Psalm 150 (continued, part 14)
A degenerate vine (v. 21). Israel as a vine is a familiar image in the Old Testament (Ps. 80:8–16; Isa. 5:1–7; Ezek. 17:1–10; Hos. 10:1–2). God planted His people in the good land He gave them, but they didn't produce the harvest of righteousness He desired. "So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes" (Isa. 5:2 nkjv). Because they worshipped false gods, they became like their degenerate neighbors. How could dead idols ever produce living fruit in their nation?
A defiled body (v. 22). No amount of good works or religious ceremonies could wash away their sins, because the heart of the nation's problem was the problem in their hearts. They had sinful hearts because they had stubborn hearts—hearts that refused to listen to God's servant and obey God's Word. Josiah's reformation was only a cosmetic change in the kingdom of Judah; it never reached the hearts of the people so that they repented and sought forgiveness from the Lord.
Jeremiah is preeminently the prophet of the heart, for he used the word over sixty times. "O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved" (Jer. 4:14 niv). "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (17:9). Judah needed to return to the Lord with their whole heart, for only then could He bless them.
An animal in the desert (vv. 23–25). Even if the people denied that they were defiled, their actions proved otherwise, for they were like animals: a lost camel looking for an oasis; or a donkey in heat, running here and there looking for a mate. As the Jews pursued the false gods of the pagan nations, their shoes wore out and their throats became dry. How much better had they drunk the refreshing water from the river of God!
Was there any way Judah could escape the coming wrath? Yes, and that was the theme of the next point in Jeremiah's message.
But they had given themselves so much to sin that they despaired of being saved. "It's no use!" (2:25 niv) was their excuse. "It's hopeless!" They sounded like confirmed alcoholics or compulsive gamblers who can't break the habit, or like the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda who had been sick for so long that he'd given up hope (John 5:1–9). Jesus Christ, however, specializes in hopeless cases. "He breaks the power of canceled sin/He sets the prisoner free."9
Repentance: God Pleads for His People to Return to Him (3:1—4:31) The two key words in this section are return (3:1, 7, 12, 22; 4:1) and backsliding (3:6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 22). In the Hebrew, "backsliding" ("faithless" niv) is actually a form of the word translated "return."
A disgraced thief (vv. 26–28). A thief caught in the act may protest his or her innocence, but the evidence is there for all to see. Any visitor to the kingdom of Judah could see what God saw: people turning their backs on God and talking to deaf idols, but then turning desperately to Jehovah for help when they found themselves in trouble. They were caught red-handed!
Pictures (3:1–10; 3:21–4:4). The prophet again used four vivid images to picture the sad spiritual condition of the kingdom of Judah.
The unfaithful wife (3:1–10). Jeremiah returned to the metaphor of marriage that he had used in 2:1–2 and 20, but this time he introduced the subject of divorce. The Mosaic law permitted a man to divorce his wife, but it did not allow him to marry her again (Deut. 24:1–4). God had every right to reject His people, because they had abandoned Him, not in order to marry another "husband," but in order to play the harlot with many lovers. The people had gone to the hills and built shrines dedicated to foreign gods. They had
Incorrigible children (vv. 29–35). God chastened them many times for their sins, but they refused to change their ways, and then they even blamed God! He brought charges against them (Jer. 2:9), but instead of confessing and repenting, they
Jeremiah 3—4
mons. A certain church member was in the habit of closing his public prayers with "And, Lord, take the cobwebs out of my heart!" One of the other members became weary of this litany, so one evening, after hearing it again, he stood and prayed, "And, Lord, while You're at it … kill the spider!" Jeremiah was out to kill the spider and cure the patient.
acted worse than common prostitutes, who at least waited for lovers to come to them, for Judah had pursued false gods and repeatedly committed spiritual adultery with them.10
Instead of rejecting His people, however, the Lord patiently called for them to return and be restored as His wife. What grace! God had even caused a drought in the land, and the people had called out to Him for help (Jer. 3:4–5), but they had not really repented of their sins. Because of their covenant relationship with God, Judah called Him "Father" and "guide," which were titles Jewish wives sometimes used in addressing their husbands. But how could God give them covenant blessings when they were violating covenant commandments?
The Jews thought their deliverance would come from the idols they worshipped in the high places—the hill shrines—but their only hope was to repent and trust the Lord.11 These idols were unable to save them. In fact, they brought nothing but shame. Yet the Jews had sacrificed their God-given produce, flocks, and herds, and even their children to these shameful idols!
The unplowed field (4:1–3). The problem with the people was their dishonesty; they would use the right language, but they wouldn't mean it from their hearts. They would pray to the true God, but not forsake the false gods. It was easy to say, "As the Lord lives," but they didn't say it in truth, justice, and righteousness. Their hearts were hard and crowded with thorns like a neglected, unplowed field. Hosea used this image (Hos. 10:12) and so did Jesus in His parable of the sower (Matt. 13:1–9, 18–23).
When Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah witnessed this divine judgment. Nevertheless, the Judahites refused to learn from Israel's destruction and turn from their sins (vv. 6–11). God had "divorced" Israel and put her away; Israel became a part of Assyria, and the northern kingdom was never restored. Having seen this judgment, the Judahites persisted in their sins as though it would never happen to them. Because of this arrogant attitude, Judah was even more guilty than Israel. Judah should have been "put away," yet God graciously invited His adulterous wife to return home to Him.
The uncircumcised heart (4:4). Jewish boys were circumcised when eight days old, given a name, and made a son of the covenant (Gen. 17:9–14; Lev. 12:3; Luke 1:59). Although no amount of surgery on the body could change the heart, the Jews thought that this ritual was their guarantee of salvation (Matt. 3:7–9; Acts 15:1–5). God, however, wanted them to "operate" on their hearts and put away their callousness and disobedience. "Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer" (Deut. 10:16 nkjv; see also 30:6; Rom. 2:28–29; Col. 2:11). They also needed to circumcise their ears (Jer. 6:10) so they could hear the Word of God.
In obedience to the king, the people had cooperated with Josiah's reformation and outwardly put away their idols, but what they did was "only in pretense" (v. 10 niv). God was "near in their mouth but far from their mind" (12:2 nkjv; see Ezek. 33:31). Even today, when political leaders claim to be born again and are willing to promote evangelical causes, going to church and reading the Bible become the "in" things to do, but you wonder how sincere these people really are. True Christian faith has never been popular, and the road that leads to life is still narrow and lonely (Matt. 7:13–23). The unhealthy patient (3:21–25). In Scripture, sickness is one of many metaphors for sin (Ps. 41:4; Isa. 1:5–6; Jer. 8:22; 30:12; Mark 2:17). Like an infection entering the bloodstream, sin secretly gets into the system of the "inner man" and goes to work weakening and destroying. It gradually infects the whole system, producing spiritual lassitude and loss of spiritual appetite; and if not cared for, the "sin sickness" can lead to dire consequences. When we hear about believers suddenly falling into open sin, in most cases a gradual slide preceded the sudden fall.
Many people today depend on baptism, the Lord's Supper (Communion, the Eucharist), confirmation, or some other religious ritual for their salvation, when what God wants from us is sincere faith from a repentant heart. Salvation is a gift that we receive by faith; it's not a reward that we earn by being religious.
Promises (3:11–13). The Lord even called to the dispersed Israelites to return to Him. This invitation reminds us of God's promises in Leviticus 26:40–45, Deuteronomy 30, and 1 Kings 8:46–53, which assured them that God would forgive if they would repent. In Jeremiah 3:14–19,12 Jeremiah seemed to be looking far ahead to the Kingdom Age when Israel and Judah would be united, the nation would be purified and multiplied, and God would give them spiritual leaders to care for them. In the darkest days of their history, the Israelites heard their prophets announce this coming messianic kingdom, and the promise gave them hope.
God offers to heal not just the symptoms of their backsliding, but the backsliding itself. The false prophets dealt only with symptoms and announced a false peace that gave the people a false confidence (Jer. 6:14; 7:8; 8:11). But a true physician of souls will tell the truth and seek to lead sinners to genuine spiritual healing that comes from honest confession and repentance.
The people must have been shocked when they heard Jeremiah say that the day would come when the ark of the covenant would be gone, forgotten, and
This reminds me of a story I've often used in ser-
Jeremiah 4—5
respond to their pleas. Judah trusted political alliances instead of trusting the Lord. But the prostitutes would become like women in travail—an image of painful judgment that's used often in Jeremiah (6:24; 13:21; 22:23; 30:6; 48:41; 49:22, 24; 50:43).15
never missed (v. 16). They trusted in the ark, the temple, the religious rituals, the covenant, and yet these things were but temporary signs that pointed to something spiritual and eternal.
The day would come when circumcised Jews would be treated like uncircumcised Gentiles (9:25–26), when the temple would no longer be needed (7:1–15; see John 4:20–24), and when there would be a new covenant that would change hearts (Jer. 11:1–5; 31:31–40). Like Jesus, Jeremiah saw beyond external religion and taught that God was seeking the devotion of the heart. No wonder both of them were accused of being traitors and persecuted for opposing the "true religion," which God had given to Israel.
Righteousness: God Searches for the Godly (5:1–31) Since the people would not listen to God's word, God told Jeremiah to "act out" his message. This is the first of at least ten "action sermons" found in Jeremiah.16 Meanwhile, this chapter deals with four sins of the people of Jerusalem.
Investigation: they were ungodly (vv. 1–6). God commanded Jeremiah to conduct a search of all the city of Jerusalem. If even one righteous person were discovered, the Lord would forgive the wicked city and call off the invasion. The background for this "action sermon" is God's agreement with Abraham to spare Sodom if ten righteous men were in the city (Gen. 18:22–33). The test in Jerusalem was, "Does the person practice justice and truth?"
Punishment (4:5–18). Jeremiah announced the invasion of the Babylonian army from the north (1:14), like a fierce lion (4:7) and a devastating desert storm (vv. 11–13). Dreadful judgment was coming to Judah, and yet the nation was unprepared, because the people believed the deceptive message of peace proclaimed by the false prophets (v. 10).13 "It can't happen here!" was their slogan. "After all, we have the temple and the ark of the covenant."
Jeremiah found nobody among the poor who qualified, but he concluded that their lack of religious education would excuse them. The prophet then went to the nobles and the leaders, who he discovered knew God's commandments but threw off the yoke and turned away from the law (Jer. 5:5; see 2:20; Ps. 2:1–3). When the survey was concluded, not one person was found who was honest and truthful.
God commanded the watchmen to blow the trumpet and alert the people to run to the walled cities for safety. That would have given them time to repent in sackcloth (v. 8) and to wash their hearts by confessing their sins (v. 14). The Babylonian army, however, would come swiftly (v. 13; see Ezek. 38:16) and do their job thoroughly. "Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!" (Jer. 4:18 niv).
One thing was left for God to do: He would allow the invaders to enter the land like marauding animals and destroy the people (see Jer. 2:15; 4:7). The animal had gotten loose from the yoke and run away from the master, only to be met by a lion, a wolf, and a leopard! What kind of freedom was that?
Pain (4:19–31). Known as the weeping prophet, Jeremiah here expressed his personal anguish as he contemplated a national tragedy that could have been averted (4:19–21). No other Old Testament prophet revealed his brokenheartedness and sorrow as did Jeremiah (see 6:24; 9:10; 10:19–20). When ministering publicly, he was bold before men; in private, he was heartbroken before God.
Condemnation: they were ungrateful (vv. 7–9). God asked two questions: "Why should I forgive you?" (v. 7 niv) and "Shall I not punish them for these things?" (v. 9 nkjv). "God fed them to the full" (v. 7; "supplied all their needs" niv), yet they used His gifts in order to commit sin and serve their idols. The goodness of God should have brought them to repentance (Rom. 2:4), but they were ungrateful for His blessings (Hos. 2:4–13). Instead of acting like men and women made in the image of God, they became like animals in heat ("well-fed, lusty stallions," Jer. 5:8 niv; see 2:24).
God explained to His servant why the judgment was coming: The people were foolish, they did not know God, they were stupid, and they lacked understanding (4:22). If they had been as skillful in holy living as they were in sinning, God would have blessed them instead of judging them.
With prophetic vision, Jeremiah saw what the Babylonians would do to the land (vv. 23–29), producing chaos such as that described in Genesis 1:2.14 No matter where he looked, he saw ruin. Even the stable mountains shook! It was only by the mercy of God that everything in Judah wasn't completely devastated (Jer. 4:27; see 5:10, 18; 30:11; 46:28). But an equally great tragedy was the unbelief of the people who refused to repent and ask God for His help (4:30–31). Jeremiah described them as prostitutes who were trying to seduce other nations to come and help them stop the Babylonians, but their "lovers" wouldn't
The idolatrous nations in Canaan conducted a worship that was unbelievably immoral. In their minds, consorting with the temple prostitutes could guarantee a fruitful harvest. Baal was the storm god who provided the needed rain. Thus, when the Lord held back the rain to warn His people, they turned to pagan idols for help. Josiah had gotten rid of the temple prostitutes, but these prostitutes found other ways to carry on their trade and satisfy the desires they had inflamed in the men of Judah. Not unlike society today, the people worshipped sex and saw nothing wrong with what they were doing.
Jeremiah 5—6
The sinners thought they were getting away with their crimes, but God asked them, "What will you do in the end?" (5:31 niv). "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Prov. 14:12 nkjv).
Devastation: they were unfaithful (vv. 10–19). This is the heart of the matter: Since the people did not believe God's word, they turned their backs on God and went their own way. "They have lied about the Lord; they said, 'He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine'" (Jer. 5:12 niv). They rejected the word God spoke through the prophets and called it "wind." As a result, God called for devastating judgment to come to His vineyard (vv. 10–11; see 2:21).
Retribution: God Sends His Judgment (6:1–30) This closing section of Jeremiah's sermon focuses on the invading Babylonian army and the devastation they will bring to the kingdom of Judah. In that critical hour, the prophet told the nation what God was doing.
God, however, said His word would be a fire that would consume the people like wood (5:14; see 23:29). Note the repetition of the phrase "eat up" ("devour" niv) in 5:17, an announcement that the Babylonian invasion would consume the land and the people. This invasion would fulfill the warning given in Deuteronomy 28:49–52, a warning that the people knew. The Jews had forsaken the Lord and served idols in their own land. Now they would be temporarily forsaken by the Lord and taken to Babylon, where they would serve idols in a foreign land.
God declares war (vv. 1–5). First, the Lord spoke to His people and warned them that judgment was coming (vv. 1–3). The Jews had three main ways to get military information: from the watchmen on the walls (v. 17), from trumpet signals (v. 1; see Num. 10:1–10), and from signal fires lit on high places (Jer. 6:1). Since Jeremiah's hometown of Anathoth was in Benjamin, he started by warning his own neighbors to get out of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is compared to a "beautiful and delicate woman," but she will end up like a "widow" (Lam. 1:1) with all of her beauty gone (v. 6). Foreign "shepherds" (soldiers) would invade the beautiful pastures and set up their tents only to slaughter the flock.
Yet, this warning opened and closed with the promise that God would not destroy the nation completely (Jer. 5:10, 18; see 4:27; 30:11; 46:28).17 Even in wrath, He remembers mercy (Hab. 3:2). The Jewish prophets announced judgment, but they also promised that a "remnant" would be spared. Isaiah repeated this promise (Isa. 1:19; 10:20–22; 11:11, 16; 14:22; 46:3) and even named one of his sons "a remnant returns" (Shearjashub, 7:3); Micah echoed the same promise (Mic. 2:12; 4:7; 5:3, 7–8; 7:18).
God then spoke to the Babylonian army over which He had command (Jer. 6:4–5), and He shared His strategy with them: make a surprise attack at noon, the hottest time of the day, when nobody would expect it, and plan to continue the attack through the night when most armies retire. The word translated "prepare" means "to sanctify or consecrate"; the Babylonians considered this war a holy crusade for their gods (see Joel 3:9; Mic. 3:5). God directs the attack (vv. 6–15). The Lord told the Babylonian army what to do: chop down trees and build ramps against the walls of the city. Then He told them why they were doing it. Jerusalem was like a well that pours out filthy water, and the city must be punished. It was like a dying person with infected wounds that couldn't be healed, and these things must be purged away. Finally, God told them how to do it: with precision and thoroughness, the way gleaners go over a vineyard so as not to miss any fruit (Jer. 6:5, 9).
The remnant that returned to Judah from Babylon after the captivity restored the nation, rebuilt the temple, and maintained the testimony, preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah. God had covenanted with Abraham that through his descendants all the world would be blessed (Gen. 12:1–3), and God kept His promise.
Proclamation: they were unconcerned (vv. 20–31). Jeremiah was a retiring sort of person. Yet God told him to announce and proclaim boldly to the whole house of Jacob just what the people were like. The prophet's description of the people must have angered them, but it didn't shake them out of their complacency. Jeremiah told them that they were foolish, senseless, blind, and deaf, and that they had no fear of God. They were stubborn and rebellious, having turned away from serving the Lord. The mighty seas obeyed God's rule, but His own people rejected Him. God sent the rains and gave the harvests, but His people refused to thank Him.
The prophet lamented the fact that, at this critical time in history, nobody was listening (v. 10)! Not only were their hearts uncircumcised (4:4), but so were their ears (see Acts 7:51); they refused to hear God's Word. Full of the wrath of the Lord, Jeremiah told them that God's anger will be poured out on young and old, men and women, and even the children. Rulers and priests won't escape; in fact, they were the most guilty because they had given the people false confidence and had refused to repent of their own sins (Jer. 6:13–15; see 7:8; 8:11). "For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests" (Lam. 4:13) God would send this judgment.
Instead of encouraging one another to fear God, they exploited one another like hunters snaring birds. Thus the rich grew richer as the poor languished. The courts were corrupt, the prophets were liars, the priests went right along with them—and the people approved what was done and enjoyed it! "My people love to have it so" (Jer. 5:31). When a nation becomes that corrupt, there is no hope.
God delivers the verdict (vv. 16–23). Are the people guilty? Yes! Do they deserve this punishment? Yes! In fact, God called the Gentiles and the earth to bear
Jeremiah 6
6 See Jeremiah 2:19; 3:6, 8, 11–12, 14, 22; 5:8; 8:5; 14:7; 21:22; 31:22; 49:4; 50:6; Hos. 11:7; 14:4. 7 According to the KJV and NASB, the "breaking of the yoke" in Jeremiah 2:20 refers to the exodus when God set the Jews free (Lev. 26:13); but the NIV translates it "you broke off your yoke," referring to the nation's rebellion against God. Jeremiah 5:5 uses "breaking the yoke" to describe rebellion against God's will (see 31:18). The yoke is a recurring image in Jeremiah's writings (see especially chaps. 27—28, as well as 30:8; 51:23; Lam. 1:14; 3:27). 8 The KJV reads the "imagination of their evil hearts," based on the view that the Hebrew word comes from a root that means "to observe, to contemplate, hence, to imagine." But the Hebrew word probably comes from a root that means "to be firm, to be hard." 9 Verse 4 of Charles Wesley's "O for a Thousand Tongues." 10 There was also sexual sin, for the pagan rites usually included consorting with prostitutes, both male and female. Idolatry and immorality often go together (Rom. 1:18ff.). 11 Some of the hill shrines were devoted to Jehovah, but the law prohibited the Jews from sacrificing at any place other than in the temple (see Lev. 17:1–7; Deut. 12:1–16). 12 The NIV translates Jeremiah 3:14 "for I am your husband," for the Hebrew word for "husband" is the same as baal and means "lord." Baal was the Canaanite rain god that the Jews worshipped so as to have good crops. Therefore, there's a play on words here. "You are worshipping the false god Baal," says the prophet, "when your true baal—husband—is the Lord." 13 Jeremiah wasn't accusing God of deceiving the people, because God cannot lie (Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2). He was perplexed that God would even allow the false prophets to deliver their deceptive messages and lead the people into a false security that would be their undoing. But if people don't want to obey the truth, they will accept lies (2 Thess. 2:10–12). This is the second of fourteen personal prayers recorded in Jeremiah, the first being 1:6 (see 9:1–6; 10:23–25; 12:1–4; 14:7–9, 19–22; 15:15–18; 16:19–20; 17:12–18; 18:18–23; 20:7–18; 32:16–25). Three times, God instructed Jeremiah not to pray for the people (7:16; 11:14; 14:11). 14 In their attempt to prove that between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 there was a "gap" during which God judged Lucifer and his angels, some scholars have used Jeremiah 4:23ff., building their case mainly on the phrase "without form and void" (kjv). But this passage refers to the invasion of the Babylonian army, not Genesis 1. Furthermore, if this passage does refer to Genesis 1, then we must believe in a pre-Adamic race who lived in cities; and yet Adam is called "the first man" (1 Cor. 15:45). 15 See also Psalm 48:6; Isaiah 13:8; 21:3; 26:17–18; 66:7; Hos. 13:13; Mic. 4:9–10; Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8; Romans 8:22; Galatians 4:19, 27; 1 Thessalonians 5:3. 16 They are: the search (Jer. 5:1–6), the soiled belt (13:1–11), the unwed prophet (16:1–9), the potter (18:1–12), the broken vessel (19:1–15), the yokes (27—28), the purchased field (32:1–15), the wine party (35:1–19), the stones (43:8–13), and the sunken scroll (51:59–64). You also find "action sermons" in the book of Ezekiel. Whenever people become so spiritually dull that they can't hear and understand God's
witness that He had done all He could to spare them this judgment (Jer. 6:18–19). They would not walk on His path18 and they would not listen to His prophets. Nevertheless, they continued to bring Him their hypocritical worship! (See Isa. 1:11–14; Amos 5:21; Mic. 6:6–8.) God gave them the right way, but they rejected it. There could be no escape. The Babylonian army would be a formidable obstacle to anybody trying to flee the wrath of God. The daughter of Zion could not escape.
God describes the consequences (vv. 24–30). The prophet described the responses of the people as they heard the news—nothing but anguish, fear, and weakness, like a woman in hard labor (Jer. 6:24–26). "Terror on every side" (v. 25 niv) is a phrase used again in 20:10; 46:5; and 49:29. This was the nickname Jeremiah gave Pashur, the chief officer of the temple (20:1–3).
Sometimes suffering brings out the best in people, but that wouldn't happen in the siege of Jerusalem. When God turned on the furnace, it would reveal the people as rejected silver, nothing but dross to be thrown away. He wasn't purifying them; He was punishing them. They weren't being refined; they were being rejected. They were too cheap to preserve.
"Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever."
Thomas Jefferson wrote those words in his Notes on the State of Virginia over two centuries ago. It is still a sobering thought for us today.
1 National Fast-Day Proclamation, March 30, 1863. 2 The break at Jeremiah 3:6 indicates that two messages are recorded in these chapters, the first from 2:1 to 3:5, and the second from 3:6 to 6:30. Later, Jeremiah's messages were written down by his secretary, Baruch, but King Jehoiakim burned the scroll. So Jeremiah dictated them again and added new messages to the book (Jer. 36). 3 The niv seeks to convey this thought, and to some extent so does the nasb. Jeremiah was a master of imagery. You can't read his book without seeing pictures. This is a good example for all preachers and teachers of the Word to follow. 4. The word translated "kindness" in the kjv ("devotion" niv) describes the grace and unfailing love of the Lord toward His people. It involves not just love but also the loyalty and faithfulness that are a part of true love. Israel was unfaithful to her husband and turned to idols. Today, believers who love the world are guilty of spiritual adultery (James 4:4), and local churches must beware of losing their "honeymoon love" for the Lord (2 Cor. 11:1–4; Rev. 2:4–5). 5 The prophet Isaiah used a similar image in Isaiah 8:5–8, warning King Ahaz that if he trusted Assyria, that nation would overflow like a turbulent river and destroy Judah. The quiet waters of Shiloah (peace) flowed from the Gihon spring to the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 32:30) and represented God's provision for His people (Ps. 46:4).
Jeremiah 7
idolatrous ways. Although Josiah had removed the idols from the land, he couldn't take idol worship out of the hearts of the people.
Word, the Lord graciously stoops to their level and dramatizes the message. 17 For "the remnant" in Jeremiah, see 23:3; 31:7; 39:9; 40:11; 41:16; 42:2, 15, 19; 43:5; 44:12, 14, 28. 18 The phrase "ask for the old paths" (6:16) is a favorite of people who oppose changes in the church and want to maintain a sterile and boring status quo. But the "old ways" refer to God's truth as revealed in His Word, not to methods of ministry. Note that Jeremiah gave two instructions: "stand in the old ways" and "walk in the good way." We stand on His truth in order to make progress in His work. The old Youth for Christ slogan comes to mind: "Geared to the times but anchored to the Rock."
The Jews didn't actually abandon the temple ministry; they simply brought their idolatry into the temple courts and made Jehovah one of the many gods they worshipped. If you had watched their worship, you would have thought the people were sincerely honoring the Lord, but their hearts belonged to Baal, Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and the other gods and goddesses of the heathen nations around them. Judah paid lip service to Jehovah but gave heart service to idols.
The Jews knew that idolatry was wrong, but they were confident they had nothing to fear. After all, God would never permit anything terrible to happen to the city where His holy temple was located! Didn't Judah possess the law of Moses, and weren't the Jews the children of Abraham and the sons of the covenant? They were God's chosen people! With a religious heritage like that, no evil could ever fall on their kingdom!
CHAPTER THREE Jeremiah 7—10 THE VOICE IN THE TEMPLE
The more we know about the ancients,
God, however, had quite a different view of the matter. He commanded Jeremiah to go up to the temple and proclaim His message to the hypocritical people gathered there. In this courageous sermon, the prophet exposed the nation's false worship (Jer. 7:1— 8:3), their false prophets (8:4–22), their false confidence in the covenant they were disobeying (9:1–26), and the false gods they were worshipping (10:1–25). In other words, Jeremiah dealt with their sinful mistreatment of the temple, the law, the covenant, and the Lord Himself. It wasn't a popular message to deliver, and it almost cost him his life!
the more we find that they were
like the moderns."
2. The temple messages—7—10
—Henry David Thoreau1 I
f there had been a newspaper published in Jerusalem in Jeremiah's day, successive editions in the year 609 BC might have carried headlines like these:
KING JOSIAH WOUNDED IN BATTLE! Brave monarch brought to Jerusalem to recover
THE KING IS DEAD! Jehoahaz succeeds father on throne
False Worship: The Temple (7:1—8:3) Three times a year, the Jewish men were required to go up to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts (Deut. 16:16), and this may have been one of those occasions. The temple was probably crowded, but there weren't many true worshippers there. The prophet stood at one of the gates that led into the temple courts, and there he preached to the people as they came in. He presented God's four indictments against the people of Judah.
EGYPT DETHRONES JEHOAHAZ Monarch reigned only three months
ELIAKIM IS NEW REGENT Renamed "Jehoiakim" by Pharaoh
Behind these fictitious headlines were tragic events that hastened the decline and collapse of the kingdom of Judah. Zealous for the Lord, King Josiah had led the nation in a reformation during which he restored the temple buildings and removed the idols from the land. But in 609, he didn't heed God's warning and unwisely meddled in a war involving Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. He was wounded in battle near Megiddo and taken to Jerusalem, where he died (2 Chron. 35:20–27). Though stunned by Josiah's death, the kingdom of Judah didn't see the loss of their king as God's call to national repentance and confession.
"Their worship does them no good" (vv. 1–15). Because they believed the lies of the false prophets, the people thought they could live in sin and still go to the temple and worship a holy God. According to Jeremiah 7:6 and 9, they were guilty of breaking at least five of the Ten Commandments, but the false prophets assured them that the presence of God's temple in Jerusalem guaranteed the nation God's blessing and protection from every enemy. Of course, this wasn't faith; it was blind superstition2 and Jeremiah quickly shattered their illusions.
Josiah's son Jehoahaz reigned for three months, but was deposed by the king of Egypt and replaced by his brother Eliakim, whom the Egyptian king named "Jehoiakim." (Because of Josiah's defeat, Judah was now an Egyptian vassal state.) During Jehoiakim's eleven years' reign, he led the nation back into their old
Jesus referred to verse 11 after He cleansed the temple (Matt. 21:13). A den of robbers is the place where thieves go to hide after they've committed their crimes. Thus Jeremiah was declaring that the Jews were using the temple ceremonies to cover up their secret sins. Instead
Jeremiah 7—8
of being made holy in the temple, the people were making the temple unholy! A century earlier, Isaiah had preached the same message (Isa. 1), and much later Paul wrote a similar warning to Christians in his day (Eph. 5:1–7; Phil. 3:17–21). Any theology that minimizes God's holiness and tolerates people's deliberate sinfulness is a false theology.
ironic manner, Jeremiah was only reminding the people that the multitude of their sacrifices meant nothing because their hearts were unfaithful to God. God wants obedience and not sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22), mercy and not religious rituals (Hos. 6:6). "Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?" (Mic. 6:7) asked the prophet Micah. Then he answered his own question: "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" (v. 8 nkjv; see Matt. 22:34–40). God's covenant with Israel at Sinai emphasized the demonstration of His grace to the nation and the importance of their obedience to Him (Ex. 19:1–8). Jehovah was marrying a wife, not buying a slave. When Moses in Deuteronomy rehearsed the law for the new generation, his emphasis was on loving the Lord and obeying Him from the heart (Deut. 6:1–15; 10:12–22; 11:1, 13, 22). To substitute external ritual for internal devotion would make the sacrifices meaningless and rob the heart of God's blessings. The same principle applies to believers today. How easy it is to be busy for the Lord and yet abandon our first love (Rev. 2:4)!
The people needed to repent, not only to avoid the awful consequences of their sins in their character and their worship, but also to escape the judgment that was certain to come (Jer. 7:12–15). God's covenant with the Jews included both blessings and judgments— blessings if they obeyed and judgments if they rebelled (Deut. 11:26–30; 27:1–26; Josh. 8:30–35). Although the Jews knew this, they continued in their sins and rejected God's warning.
They also conveniently forgot God's past judgments, including His judgment on the tabernacle when it was located in Shiloh. The evil sons of Eli thought that carrying the ark of the covenant into the battle would defeat the Philistines, but they were slain, and the enemy captured the ark. God then wrote Ichabod over the tabernacle, which means in Hebrew the "glory has departed" (1 Sam. 4—6; see especially 4:21–22). Yes, God could protect His holy temple if He desired, but His temple in Jerusalem was no longer holy. It was a den of thieves! Better there were no temple at all than that hypocrisy should desecrate God's house.
"My discipline and correction do them no good" (7:27–8:3). "This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction" (Jer. 7:28 niv). Whom the Lord loves, He chastens (Prov. 3:11–12; Heb. 12:5–13), and if we truly know and love the Lord, His chastening will bring us back to Him in contrite obedience. But God told Jeremiah to lament for the dead nation, because they would not repent.
"Your prayers will do them no good" (vv. 16–20). At least three times, God instructed Jeremiah not to pray for the people (Jer. 7:16; 11:4; 14:11)—certainly a terrible indictment against them. God had allowed Abraham to pray for wicked Sodom (Gen. 18:23–33), and He had listened when Moses interceded for sinful Israel (Ex. 32—33; Num. 14), but He wouldn't permit Jeremiah to plead for the kingdom of Judah. The people were too far gone in their sins, and all that remained for them was judgment (see 1 Cor. 11:30; 1 John 5:16). When a nation decays, it begins in the home, and God saw whole families in Jerusalem working together to worship idols (Jer. 7:17–19). If only the parents had helped their children learn of the Lord and worship Him! The Jews, however, worshipped the "Queen of Heaven," which was a title for Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love and fertility, whose worship involved abominable obscenities (44:17–19, 25). This sinful worship certainly grieved God, but the people were hurting themselves more than they were hurting the Lord. This pagan immorality was having a devastating effect on their children, and God would send a judgment that would destroy the land, the city, the temple, and people. Judah was sacrificing the permanent for the immediate, and it was a bad bargain.
Topheth is an Aramaic word meaning "fireplace," and it sounds much like the Hebrew word meaning "shameful thing." Topheth was the place in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom where the people sacrificed their children to idols by throwing them into the fire (Isa. 30:33). King Josiah had defiled Topheth and turned it into a garbage dump (2 Kings 23:10), but after his death the gruesome pagan rituals were reinstated. The Greek word gehenna, meaning hell, comes from the Hebrew ge' hinnom, the valley of Hinnom. Hell is a garbage dump where Christ-rejecting sinners will suffer forever with the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). Jeremiah announced that the day would come when the Valley of Hinnom would become a cemetery too small for all the people who would need burial after the Babylonian invasion. The army would plunder the graves and tombs, and the bones of the great leaders and kings would be desecrated on the altars like so many sacrifices to the gods they worshipped. Gehenna would again become a garbage dump, and the corpses of the Jerusalem citizens would be the garbage! "They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground" (Jer. 8:2 niv).3 Many of the people surviving the siege would be carried off to Babylon, and the land would become desolate.
"Their sacrifices will do them no good" (vv. 21–26). A superficial reading of this paragraph may give the impression that God was denouncing the whole sacrificial system He had given to His people in Exodus and Leviticus, but such is not the case. In an
Jeremiah 8—9
False Prophets: The Law (8:4–22) Having shattered the popular illusions about the temple, Jeremiah then exposed the false prophets who constantly opposed his ministry and led the people astray. He raised a number of questions in this section, but the whole proclamation centers on one major question: "Why did the nation not turn back to God?" In answering the question, Jeremiah dealt with three aspects of the people's stubborn refusal to obey God.
spiritual leadership. It's much easier to drift with the current and go along with the crowd. Jeremiah had few friends or disciples because his message wasn't popular.
Their refusal would lead to judgment (vv. 13–22). These verses blend three voices: God's voice of judgment, the people's voice of despair, and the prophet's voice of anguish as he contemplated the ruin of a once-great nation. God declared that the fields would be ruined (vv. 13, 17), the cities would be destroyed (v. 17), and the people would be either slain or taken captive (v. 19). It would be like drinking poison (8:14; 9:15; 23:15), experiencing an earthquake (8:16), being attacked by venomous snakes (v. 17), or being crushed and broken (v. 21).
Their refusal was irrational (vv. 4–7). Jeremiah used analogies from human life and nature to illustrate his point. When people fall down, they get up again. That's the sensible thing to do. If they find themselves walking on the wrong path, they retrace their steps and get on the right path. Conclusion: if people can be sensible about these everyday matters, why can't they be sensible about eternal matters, especially since the consequences are much more tragic?
How did the people respond? Instead of turning to the Lord, they fled to their walled cities (v. 14)! Their cry of despair was, "Where is the Lord? Why did He allow this to happen?" (see v. 19). But it happened because they were disobedient and unfaithful to the covenant they had made with the Lord. Their situation was hopeless; nobody would come to save them. Verse 20 was the proverb they quoted: "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved." They had missed their God-given opportunity, and it would never come again.
They were like horses rushing into battle, having no idea of the dangers involved. Horses are trained to obey and may not know any better, but people made in the image of God ought to know where they're going. In fact, the people of Judah weren't as smart as the birds! (See Isa. 1:3.) God gave the birds the instinct to know the seasons and the times of their migrations, but He gave people so much more: a spirit within to hear God's voice and understand His law. Made in the image of God, men and women ought to be as obedient to divine instruction as birds are to natural instinct.
Since Jeremiah was a faithful shepherd, he identified with the hurts of the people: his heart fainted (v. 18), and he mourned in horror as he felt the heavy burden that was crushing the land. "For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt" (v. 21). The false prophets had made a wrong diagnosis and prescribed the wrong remedy, and the wounds of the nation were still open, bleeding, and infected. "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isa. 8:20 nkjv).
Their refusal was caused by deception (vv. 8–12). "Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?" (Jer. 8:9). Just as they boasted that they possessed the temple, so they boasted that they had the divine law (v. 8), but possessing the Scriptures isn't the same as practicing the Scriptures. Although the Bible is still a bestseller, its popularity isn't keeping Western society from crumbling morally and spiritually. There appears to be no connection between what people say they believe and the way people act.
False Confidence: The Covenant (9:1–26) The Jews are the only nation in history with whom God has entered into a covenant relationship (Gen. 12:1–3). As the children of Abraham, marked by the seal of circumcision (Gen. 17), they are indeed a special people to the Lord (Ex. 19:4–6). The tragedy is that they trusted the covenant and the ritual to guarantee them acceptance before the Lord. They thought they didn't need to repent or believe; that was for the uncircumcised Gentiles. John the Baptist faced this obstacle in his ministry (Matt. 3:7–10), and so did Jesus (John 8:33ff.) and Paul (Rom. 2—4). Jeremiah had to deal with the pride of his people as he pointed out to them three obvious truths.
The false prophets, who claimed to be writing and speaking in the name of the Lord, deceived the kingdom of Judah. They were men whose personal lives were godless, whose hearts were covetous, and whose remedies for the problems of the nation were useless. Their ministry was popular because they majored on the superficial and marketed whatever good news the people wanted to hear (see 5:12; 14:13–15; 27:8–9; 28:1–17). Jeremiah pictured these men as deceitful physicians (6:14; 8:11), empty wind (5:13), dispensers of chaff (23:28), ruthless, selfish shepherds (23:1–4), and infected people spreading disease (23:15 niv). God had not sent these so-called prophets (14:14; 23:18, 21; 29:9, 31), nor did they receive their messages from God (23:25–28).
Being God's covenant people is no excuse for sin (vv. 1–6). Like Jesus (Luke 19:41) and Paul (Rom. 9:1–5), Jeremiah wept over the sad spiritual condition of the people, and this is one reason he's known as the weeping prophet (see Jer. 9:18; 10:19; 13:17; 14:17; Lam. 1:16; 2:11, 18; 3:48). It's unusual today to find tears either in the pulpit or the pews; the emphasis seems to be on enjoyment. Instead of evangelists and
What happens to the Lord's people largely depends on the leaders they follow. Worldly leaders attract and produce worldly people, but you pay a price to follow
Jeremiah 9—10
would soon be going to their own funeral. Death was coming, and the politicians and false prophets wouldn't be able to hinder it. Death is pictured as a thief who comes unhindered through the windows to steal precious lives. Bodies would fall "like cut grain behind the reaper" (v. 22 niv).5
revivalists, the church now has "religious comedians" who apparently have never read James 4:9–10: "Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up" (nkjv). Vance Havner was right: "Never in history has there been more ribald hilarity with less to be funny about."4
The Jews boasted in the covenant sign of circumcision, but it was only in their flesh; the true spiritual circumcision had never reached their hearts (4:4; Deut. 10:16; Acts 7:51; Rom. 2:25–29). People today who depend on baptism and other church sacraments (ordinances), but who have never repented and trusted Christ, are in the same situation as the Jews in Jeremiah's day; they think they're a part of the divine covenant, but their confidence is a false one. Paul was a good example of this: he had to lose his religious righteousness in order to gain Christ (Phil. 3:1–11)!
Jeremiah would rather have fled from the people to a place of peace (see Ps. 55:6), but he knew that his calling was to stay and minister God's Word (Jer. 40:6). His soul was grieved at the sins of the people, their immorality, idolatry, deception, and slander. Truth was a precious commodity; you couldn't even trust your friends and relatives!
The people of Judah thought they were "free to sin" because they'd been born children of Abraham and were the people of the covenant. On the contrary, being a part of God's covenant gave them a greater responsibility to live to glorify Him and obey His will! "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid" (Rom. 6:1–2). As I said before, any theology that minimizes personal holiness and excuses sinfulness is not biblical theology.
False Gods: The True and Living God (10:1–25) Before Abraham trusted in the true God, he had been a worshipper of idols (Josh. 24:2–3). During their years in Egypt, the Jews were exposed to the gross idolatry of that land, and some of it stayed in their hearts. While Moses was meeting with God on Mount Sinai, the people, aided by Moses' brother Aaron, made a golden calf and worshipped it (Ex. 32). At Sinai, they had seen the glory of God, heard the voice of God, and accepted the law of God; yet "they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass" (Ps. 106:20 nkjv). Idolatry was in their hearts.
Being God's covenant people offers no escape from judgment (vv. 7–16). If anything, their favored relationship with the Lord invited an even greater judgment; for everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required (Luke 12:48). God said to the Jews, "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins" (Amos 3:2 niv).
Jeremiah looks around and ridicules the idols (vv. 1–16). Instead of separating themselves from the evil practices of the nations as Moses had instructed (Deut. 7:1–11), Israel gradually imitated those practices and began to worship pagan gods. But these gods were worthless, manufactured by craftsmen, "like a scarecrow in a melon patch" (Jer. 10:5 niv). They can't speak or walk, and they have to be carried around (see Ps. 115). If only the people would contemplate the glory and majesty of the true and living God—the everlasting God who created the heavens and the earth by the Word of His power!
That punishment would be like the heat of a furnace (Jer. 9:7). It would leave the cities in ruins, places for animals to dwell; the fruitful fields would become like deserts because nobody would live there and cultivate them. So terrible would the devastation be that even the birds would flee because there would be no places for them to nest. Why would the land of "milk and honey" become a barren wilderness? Because the people disobeyed God's law and turned to idols. They thought their favored status before the Lord would protect them from judgment.
A. W. Tozer reminds us that "the essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him."6 It means worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25), the gifts rather than the Giver. The idols were senseless, and so were the people (Jer. 10:8), because we become like the god we worship (Ps. 115:8).
Being God's covenant people is no assurance of spiritual understanding (vv. 17–26). "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me" (vv. 23–24 nkjv). No amount of education, power, or wealth—three things the world today depends on and boasts about—can guarantee the blessing of God. God doesn't delight in a nation's learning, political influence, armies, or gross national product. He delights in a people who practice kindness, justice, and righteousness because they know and fear the Lord. God promises covenant blessings to those who obey Him, not to those who only submit to religious ceremonies.
Our contemporary idols aren't ugly as were the pagan idols in Jeremiah's day, but they capture just as much affection and do just as much damage. Whatever we worship and serve other than the true and living God is an idol, whether it's an expensive house or car, the latest stereo equipment, a boat, a library, a girlfriend or boyfriend, our children, a career, or a bank account. That on which I center my attention and affection and for which I am willing to sacrifice is my god, and if it isn't Jesus Christ, then it's
God called the nation to lament because they
Jeremiah 10—11
their being dismissed? And I wonder how many in the congregation would be willing to accept that message and obey it?
an idol. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21).
The remedy for idolatry is for us to get caught up in the majesty and grandeur of God, the true God, the living God, the everlasting King. An idol is a substitute, and you would never want a substitute once you have experienced the love and power of the Lord God Almighty.
God didn't promise Jeremiah an easy ministry, but He did promise to keep him strong (1:7–8, 17–19). He kept His promise to Jeremiah, and He will keep His promises to His servants today.
Jeremiah looks ahead and laments the judgment that is coming (vv. 17–22). Jeremiah saw the invasion of the Babylonian army and the distress it would bring. He urged the people to pack their bags and get ready to move, because they would be hurled out of the land like stones from slings. The prophet lamented the ruin of houses and families, the separation of parents and children, the scattering of God's precious flock.
1 Thoreau wrote this in his journal on September 2, 1851. 2 These false prophets may have based their deceptive message on God's deliverance of Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18—19; Isa. 37). But Hezekiah was a godly king who listened to the Word of God from the prophet Isaiah, prayed to God for help, and sought to honor the Lord. 3 The Hebrew word translated "refuse" means "dung, manure," and Jeremiah used it again in 9:22; 16:4; and 25:33. What a tragedy that people who could have been children of God ended up manure in a garbage dump (see Mark 9:43–50). 4 Vance Havner, It Is toward Evening (Westwood, NJ Fleming H. Revell, 1968), 25. Vance Havner was himself a very witty man, and I always enjoyed his fellowship, but he knew how to use humor wisely to get his points across. In that same message, he writes, "Christians are never more ridiculous than when they attempt a religious version of worldly hilarity. It is always an embarrassing imitation that disgusts even the ungodly" (27). 5 Jeremiah 9:22 pictures death as the "grim reaper" with the scythe in his hand, mowing people down like wheat in the field (see also Ps. 90:5; 103:14–16; Isa. 40:7; Job 5:26). 6 A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: Harper and Row, 1961), 11. 7 Jeremiah's prayer reminds us of the "imprecatory psalms," such as Psalms 35, 69, 79, 109, 139, and 143. If we keep in mind that these prayers were an expression of national concern, not personal vengeance, asking God to keep His covenant promises to the nation (Gen. 12:1–3), then they become expressions of a desire for justice and the vindication of God's holy name. Their spirit is that of Paul's in Galatians 1:6–9 and the saints in heaven in Revelation 6:9–11 and 18:20–24.
Jeremiah pointed out the reason for this disaster: the shepherds (political and spiritual leaders; KJV "pastors") didn't seek the Lord but instead led the people astray (Jer. 10:21). The judgment came "for the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests" (Lam. 4:13). A nation went into captivity because its leaders forsook the true and living God.
Jeremiah looks up and prays for mercy (vv. 23–25). God had instructed Jeremiah not to pray for the nation (Jer. 7:16), so he didn't. Instead, he prayed for himself as a representative of the nation. Once again, he identified with the pain of the people (10:19). This prayer presents three arguments to persuade the Lord to be merciful to His people.
First, God must remember that they are only weak humans who don't know how to run their own lives (v. 23). Jeremiah may have been thinking of Psalm 103:13–16. Second, if God gave them what they deserved, they would be destroyed (Jer. 10:24). Again, Psalm 103:10 comes to mind: "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities" (nkjv). As Ezra expressed it, God punishes us "less [than] our iniquities deserve" (Ezra 9:13).
His third argument was that the nations attacking Judah deserved punishment for seeking to destroy God's chosen people (Jer. 10:25). God called Babylon to be His tool to chasten the Jews, not to wipe them out, but the Babylonians were ruthless in their treatment of Judah. The prophet wasn't giving vent to his own personal wrath; he was pleading for the Lord to keep His promises to Abraham and protect the nation from extinction (Gen. 12:1–3). God answered that prayer and eventually brought an end to the savage rule of Babylon (see Jer. 50–51).7
CHAPTER FOUR Jeremiah 11—13 VOTING WITH GOD
3. The broken covenant—11—13
Whoso who would be a man must
be a nonconformist.
R. W. Emerson1 I
It was on this note that Jeremiah ended his "temple sermon." The results? According to Jeremiah 26, he was seized and condemned to die! Rather than hear and obey the true Word of God, the priests would rather commit murder! The Lord saved Jeremiah from being killed, but he was banished from the temple (36:5). I wonder how many preachers today would boldly preach a message they knew would result in
n his poem "The Need of the Hour," the American poet Edwin Markham wrote,
We need the faith to go a path untrod, The power to be alone and vote with God.
That's what Jeremiah was doing during the reign of
Jeremiah 11
20:24; Deut. 6:3; 11:9; 26:9, 15; 27:3; 31:20). Sad to say, the nation preferred the fleshpots of Egypt to the milk and honey of Canaan (Ex. 16:3; Num. 11:4–5) and repeatedly wanted to go back to Egypt.
King Josiah—he was walking alone and voting with God. King Josiah was excited when the workmen repairing the temple found the book of the law (2 Kings 22), and this discovery led to a movement that temporarily cleansed the kingdom of idolatry (2 Kings 23). This event is commonly called "Josiah's revival," but "reformation" might be a more accurate word. Why? Because the people obeyed the law only outwardly; in their hearts they still held on to their idols.
During Josiah's reformation when the nation seemed to be turning back to the Lord, God commanded Jeremiah to go through the streets of Jerusalem and declare the terms of His covenant to the people. Both God and Jeremiah knew that the nation's obedience wasn't from the heart. No matter what they were doing in the temple, the people were still visiting the high places and honoring the gods of the nations around them.
Because Jeremiah understood this and knew the shallowness of the unrepentant human heart, he wasn't too vocal during Josiah's reformation.2 He knew what the people were doing in secret and that they would return to their sins at the first opportunity. In this section of his prophecy, Jeremiah recorded the sins of the nation and pleaded with the people to return to the Lord while there was yet time.
The prophet Ezekiel described their sin perfectly when he wrote, "Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart" (Ezek. 14:3). A century earlier, Isaiah had described Judah's empty, hypocritical worship, comparing Jerusalem to Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa. 1:10ff.). The people brought abundant sacrifices, but God didn't need them or want them. Their incense was an abomination, their annual feasts were sinful activities, and God hated it all and was tired of it. "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword" (Isa. 1:19–20 niv).
Breaking God's Covenant (11:1–8) The king and the people had publicly promised the Lord that they would obey the terms of His covenant (2 Kings 23:3), and there's no question that the king was sincere. With most of the people, however, their obedience was only a matter of going along with the crowd and doing what was popular.
God told Jeremiah to remind the people of both the blessings and the curses written in the covenant. If God's blessings couldn't motivate them to obey His commandments, perhaps the fear of God's judgment might cause them to obey. God had to treat His people like little children who obey either to get a reward or to escape a spanking. How He longed for them to obey because they loved Him and wanted to please Him!3
The history of the Jews is the record of covenants: God made them and the people broke them. He made a covenant with Abraham when He called him to leave Ur and go to Canaan (Gen. 12:1–3), and He confirmed this covenant with Isaac (26:1–5) and Jacob (35:1–15). The Abrahamic covenant is the basis for all the blessings Israel has received from the Lord.
At Sinai, God entered into another covenant with Israel, one that involved obedience to His holy law (Ex. 19—20). "Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine" (19:5 nkjv). The people agreed to obey the Lord (v. 8), but it didn't take long for them to disobey. While they were still at Sinai, they made an idol and worshipped it (Ex. 32).
Jeremiah answered "So be it!" (Jer. 11:5) to God's words, which is the way Israel was supposed to respond to God's covenant (see Deut. 27:9–26; Josh. 8:30–35). But the prophet was walking alone; the people weren't interested in doing the will of the Lord. Had the nation repented and turned humbly to the Lord, the people could have averted the terrible judgment brought by the armies of Babylon. As it was, their hypocrisy made that judgment only worse.
Before Israel entered the land of Canaan, Moses reviewed the covenant (the book of Deuteronomy) and reminded the people of their obligations to the Lord. Their ownership of the land depended on God's promise to Abraham, but their possession and enjoyment of the land depended on their obedience to God's law. Moses reviewed the blessings and the curses (Deut. 27—28); later, Joshua reaffirmed them in the Promised Land (Josh. 8:30–35). The Jewish people knew that God would bless them if they were true to Him and that He would chasten them if they were disobedient.
Conspiring against God's Authority (11:9—12:6) The Lord revealed to His servant a twofold conspiracy in the land: a conspiracy of the men of Judah to disobey the covenant and resist the reforms led by King Josiah (11:9–17), and a conspiracy of the people in Jeremiah's hometown to kill the prophet and silence God's Word (11:18—12:6). Both led to a third crisis that threatened Jeremiah's own faith in the Lord.
The conspiracy against the king (vv. 9–17) was actually a hidden rebellion against God's covenant and the reforms that Josiah was bringing to the land. Unless the Word of God is obeyed and worked out practically in our lives, God can't bless us as He desires to do. The people, however, preferred to break the covenant and worship false gods.
The land of Egypt had been an "iron furnace" to Israel (Jer. 11:4), a place of suffering (Deut. 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51; Isa. 48:10); but Canaan was "a land flowing with milk and honey" (Jer. 11:5), a place of prosperity and freedom. God described the Promised Land to Moses in this way (Ex. 3:8, 17; see 33:3), and Moses repeated this description to the people (Lev.
But what we worship and the way we worship are
Jeremiah 11—12
they perverted that blessing and worshipped idols. They turned His temple into a den of thieves, persecuted His prophets, rejected His covenant, and disgraced His name. "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you" (Rom. 2:24 niv; see Ezek. 36:22). God patiently dealt with His people, seeking to woo them back, but they only hardened their hearts and turned a deaf ear to His warnings.
not incidentals in life; they're essentials that determine the character of life itself. "A people's lives are only as good as their worship," writes Eugene Peterson. "Worship defines life. If worship is corrupt, life will be corrupt."4 God gave His people the covenant so He might bless them and keep the good promises He made to them, but His people preferred to trust the gods of their pagan neighbors.
Worship has consequences, either good or bad, and in the case of Judah, the consequences were bad. The people knew that the curses and judgments were written into the covenant, but they thought God wouldn't send judgment on His own chosen people. Wasn't God's temple in Jerusalem? Wasn't the ark of the covenant there? And didn't the priests have the law? Would God allow these sacred things to be destroyed? But God always keeps His promises, whether to bless or to chasten, and the greater the privileges we have from Him, the greater the responsibility we have to Him.
Before we condemn the people of Judah, however, let's examine our own hearts and churches. Are there idols in our hearts? Do we give wholehearted devotion to the Lord, or is our devotion divided between Christ and another? When unsaved people visit our worship services, are they impressed with the glory and majesty of God (1 Cor. 14:23–25)? Do the worldly lives and questionable activities of professed believers disgrace God's name? Remember, God's "last word" to the church isn't the Great Commission; it's "Repent, or else!" (Rev. 2—3).
The conspiracy against Jeremiah (11:18–23) grew out of the people's rejection of God's Word, for if they had accepted the Word of God, they would have honored His prophet and listened to what he had to say. You would think that the priests in Anathoth would have had more discernment than to listen to the false prophets, but holding a religious office is no guarantee that people possess spiritual wisdom.
Disaster was coming to Judah, and nothing could change it. The people could cry out to their gods, but their gods wouldn't answer them. Even if the people turned back to Jehovah and begged for His help, He wouldn't answer them. Therefore, the Lord commanded Jeremiah a second time not to pray for the people (11:14; see 7:16; 14:11). The people worshipped as many gods as there were cities in Judah, and there were as many altars as streets in Jerusalem. Yet none of these things could rescue the nation from the terrible judgment that was coming.
The men of Anathoth, Jeremiah's hometown, plotted to kill him because his message convicted them. Rather than repent, they decided to destroy the messenger. But they had a second reason: as loyal Jews, they felt that his prophecies were harmful to the welfare of the nation. Jeremiah preached impending judgment from Babylon, while the false prophets were declaring messages of peace (Jer. 6:14; 8:11). Jeremiah insisted that the people obey the law and bring their sacrifices to the temple and not to the local shrines (high places), some of which were dedicated to idols, and the priests didn't like that. Jeremiah was proBabylon, while the rulers were pro-Egypt. In other words, Jeremiah was out of step with his times, and because he was decisive, he had to walk alone and "vote with God."
God presented two pictures of His people that reveal how futile their religious faith really was: a worshipper in the temple (11:15) and a tree in the storm (vv. 17–18). God called the nation "my beloved," reminding them of their marriage contract and how unfaithful they had been to Him. Their worship in the temple should have been an expression of their true love to Him, but instead it was an exercise in futility. Offering sacrifices could never avert God's judgment; the people were merely engaging in wickedness (v. 15 niv). When worship becomes wickedness, and people rejoice in sinning, then the light has turned into darkness (Matt. 6:22–24), and there is no hope.
Until God warned him about it, Jeremiah knew nothing about the plot against his life, and when he heard the news, he felt like a helpless lamb being led to the slaughter (11:19; see Isa. 53:7). All he could do was commit himself and his enemies to the Lord and trust God to work. This is the first of several occasions in his life when Jeremiah privately poured out his heart to the Lord and asked Him to fight his battles and help him with his depression and fears (Jer. 11:19–20; 12:1–4; 15:10–17; 17:12–18; 18:20–23; 20:7–18). Publicly, Jeremiah was bold before people, but privately he was broken before God. God assured His servant that his enemies would be dealt with when the day of disaster came and the Babylonians captured Jerusalem.
In Scripture, trees sometimes symbolize individuals (Jer. 17:8; Ps. 1:3; 52:8; 92:12; Zech. 4:3) and sometimes nations or kingdoms (Isa. 10:33–34; 18:5; Ezek. 17; 31). Israel is compared to an olive tree in Jeremiah 11:16–17, an image Paul used in Romans 11. The olive tree is prized in the Near East because of its fruit and the useful oil made from it. Judah thought of herself as a "thriving olive tree" (Jer. 11:16 niv) that would never fall, but God saw a storm coming, and the wind would break the branches and the lightning would set the tree on fire. Jerusalem would be broken down and burned like a useless olive tree.
If the greatest sin is the corruption of the highest good, then Judah was guilty of great sin. Their highest good was to know the true God and worship Him, but
A theological crisis followed (12:1–6). No sooner did God take care of the two conspiracies than
Jeremiah 12
Jeremiah had been running with the foot soldiers and had kept up with them, but now he'd be racing with the horses. In spite of his trials, he'd been living in a land of peace. Now, however, he'd be tackling the thick jungles of the Jordan River, where the wild beasts prowled. His heart had been broken because of the attacks of outsiders, but now his own family would start opposing him.
Jeremiah found himself struggling with a theological crisis (12:1–6). "In the commencement of the spiritual life," wrote the French mystic Madame Guyon, "our hardest task is to bear with our neighbor; in its progress, with ourselves; and in its end, with God." Jeremiah couldn't understand why a holy God would permit the false prophets and the unfaithful priests to prosper in their ministries while he, a faithful servant of God, was treated like a sacrificial lamb.
The third truth grows out of the other two: the life of service gets better as we grow more mature. Each new challenge (horses, jungles, opposition of relatives) helped Jeremiah develop his faith and grow in his ministry skills. The easy life is ultimately the hard life, because the easy life stifles maturity, but the difficult life challenges us to develop our "spiritual muscles" and accomplish more for the Lord. Phillips Brooks said the purpose of life is the building of character through truth, and you don't build character by being a spectator. You have to run with endurance the race God sets before you and do it on God's terms (Heb. 12:1–3).
"Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" (v. 1 niv) is a question that was asked frequently in Scripture, and it's being asked today. Job wrestled with it (Job 12; 21); the psalmists tried to understand it (Ps. 37; 49; 73); and other prophets besides Jeremiah grappled with the problem (Hab. 1; Mal. 2:17; 3:15). Jewish theologians, pointing to the covenants, taught that God blesses those who obey and judges those who disobey, but the situation in real life seemed just the opposite! How could a holy God of love allow such a thing to happen?5