Jeremiah 9:1-26
The
Broken-Hearted Prophet
Halley says “Jeremiah, a man of sorrows, in
the midst of a people abandoned to everything vile (8:6; 9:2-9), weeping day
and night at the thought of frightful impending retribution, moved about among
them, begging, pleading, persuading, threatening, entreating, imploring that
they turn from their wickedness. But in
vain.” J. Vernon McGee says this about
Jeremiah the Prophet and chapter 9, “Chapter 9 begins with an expression of
Jeremiah’s personal heartbreak as he sees his people spurn the tender
solicitude of God. This is the effect it
had on Jeremiah. How did he give his message? Was he a hard-boiled kind of man who liked to criticize others and rule
them out? No, he stood there and gave
his message with tears streaming down his face. The message he gave broke his heart. Centuries later, people of Israel [actually Judah] saw Jesus weeping
over the city of Jerusalem when he had a harsh message to deliver to that city
and were reminded of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, and some of them even
thought Jesus was Jeremiah who had returned to them.” [ibed. p.371] Verses 23-24, “As a nation,
what are the things we glory in? Obviously,
we trust in human wisdom, in riches, and in power. We need to be reminded that our strength is
not in the brain trust in Washington. Our strength is not in Wall Street, the stock market, and the
economy. Our strength does not lie in
the cleverness of our politicians. Our
strength is not found in the fact that we have nuclear weapons. Any strength that we have must lie in our
spiritual values, our moral values, our character, and our purpose. And these things are not even taught in our
schools and colleges today. We have
brought forth a generation that is rude [and crude], a generation that has no
sense of moral purpose. In fact, we have
lost our way---as Jeremiah said to his people---on the dark mountains. In our day America is just coasting along;
and, when you start coasting, you are going downhill… “Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he
understandeth and knoweth me.” What we
desperately need is a group of leaders who know something other than the
present godless philosophy. We need
people who know God, who know his Word and are obeying it. The great need in this country today is a
return to God. We need to set aside our
hypocrisy and our sophistication and our illusion that we are such a smart
people. We brag about our achievements
when our great need is to walk in a way that will glorify God…” [ibid. p. 372]
“Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a
fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the
daughter of my people! Oh, that I had in
the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; that I might leave my people, and
go from them! For they are adulterers, an assembly of
treacherous men. ‘And like their bow they have bent their
tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the
earth. For they proceed from evil to
evil, and they do not know me,’ says the LORD. ‘Everyone take
heed to his neighbor, and do not trust any brother; for every brother will
utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanderers. Everyone will deceive his neighbor, and will
not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary
themselves to commit iniquity. Your
dwelling place is in the midst of
deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me,’ says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, I
will refine them and try them; for how shall I deal with the daughter of my
people? Their tongue is an arrow shot out; it speaks deceit; one speaks peaceably with his neighbor
with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait. Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the LORD. ‘Shall I not avenge myself on such a nation
as this?’ [Now Jeremiah talking here next] I will
take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, and for the dwelling places of
the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that on one can
pass through; nor can men hear the
voice of the cattle. Both the birds of
the heavens and the beasts have fled; they are gone. [God speaking now] ‘I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals, I will make
the cities of Judah desolate, without inhabitant.’ Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the
mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass
through? And the LORD said, ‘Because they
have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, nor
walked according to it, but they have walked according to the dictates of their
own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.’ Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel: ‘Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them
water of gall to drink. I will scatter
them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have
known. And I will send a sword after
them until I have consumed them.’ Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Consider
and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for skillful wailing women, that they may come. Let them make haste and take up a wailing for
us, that our eyes may run with tears, and our eyelids gush with water. For a voice of wailing is heard from
Zion: How we are plundered! We are greatly ashamed, because we have
forsaken the land, because we have been cast out of our dwellings.’ Yet hear the word of the LORD, O women, and let
your ear receive the word of his mouth; teach your daughters wailing, and
everyone her neighbor a lamentation. For
death has come through our windows, has entered our palaces, to kill off the children---no longer to be outside! And young
men---no longer on the streets!’ Speak, ‘Thus says the LORD: Even the carcasses
of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, like cuttings after the
harvester, and no one shall gather them.’ Thus says the LORD: ‘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, that I am the LORD,
exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I
delight,’ says the LORD. ‘Behold, the days
are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised---Egypt, Judah, Edom,
the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who
are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised and all
the house of Israel are uncircumcised
in the heart.’”
Jeremiah 10:1-25
Idol
Manufacturers
Halley points out, “It seems that the threat
of Babylonian invasion spurred the people of Judah to great activity in the
manufacture of idols, as if idols could save them. This gave Jeremiah occasion to remind them
that what they were doing was further aggravation of their already appalling
sin against God.” Now think for a
moment, what is it that America has idolized? If threatened militarily, what idols might we seek to feverishly
manufacture? One such idol could be
military weapons, ships, aircraft, submarines, missiles---but all to no avail
this time around, as the great tribulation (World War III) approaches. Some
feel verses 3-5 is talking about the predecessor of Christmas trees. Perhaps, but I feel it’s more talking about
the manufacture of idols after reading the exact wording. J. Vernon McGee feels the same way. It does appear to be talking about the
manufacture of idols and not ‘Christmas trees’. Verses 23-24, a very wise prayer we should pray to the LORD, but with
caution. David recorded a similar prayer
in Psalms somewhere, see if you can find it.
“Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O
house of Israel. Do not learn the ways
of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles
are dismayed at them. For the customs of
the people are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the
work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and
hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, and
they cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do
evil, nor can they do any good. Inasmuch
as there is none like you, O LORD (you are great, and your name is great in might), who would not fear
you, O King of the nations? For this is
your rightful due. For among all the
wise men of the nations, and in all
their kingdoms, there is none like
you. But they are altogether
dull-hearted and foolish; a wooden idol is a worthless doctrine. Silver is beaten
into plates; it is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz [Tarshish was an ancient Phoenician-Israelite
seaport and colony near another one named Gades, modern Cadiz, located on the
Atlantic coast of Spain. They mined
silver in Spain and shipped it back to Tyre, Sidon and Israel via their
allied merchant marine. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/kings/1.html], the work of the craftsman and of the
hands of the metalsmith; blue and purple are their clothing; they are all the work
of skillful men. But the LORD is the true
God; he is the living God and the
everlasting King. At his wrath the earth
will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure his indignation.’ [By
all appearance, this is talking about an idol which has been manufactured with
hammered gold and silver covering it like plating, and mounted on a stand of
some kind stand so it won’t fall over, and so that it could be carried
places.] Thus you shall say to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens
and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens. He has made the earth by his power, has
established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at his
discretion. When he utters his voice, there is multitude of waters in the
heavens; and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, he brings
the wind out of his treasuries.’ Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge; every metalsmith is put to
shame by an image; for his molded image is falsehood, and there is no breath
in them. They are futile, a work of errors; in the time of their punishment they
shall perish. The Portion of Jacob is not like them, for he is the Maker of
all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.”
The
Coming Captivity of Judah
“Gather up your wares from the land, O
inhabitant of the fortress! For thus
says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will throw out at this time the inhabitants
of the land, and will distress them, that they may find it so.’ Woe is me for my
hurt! My wound is severe. But I say, ‘Truly this is an infirmity, and I must bear it.’ My tent is plundered, and all my cords are
broken; my children have gone from me, and they are no more. There is no one to pitch my tent
anymore, or set up my curtains. For the
shepherds have become dull-hearted, and have not sought the LORD; therefore they
shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. Behold, the noise of the report has come, and
a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah
desolate, a den of jackals. [Comment: This is
one chapter away from the death of Josiah, so these last verses are referring
to the coming desolation at the hands of the Babylonians, context wise.] O LORD,
I know the way of man is not in
himself; It is not in man who walks
to direct his own steps. O LORD,
correct me, but with justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. [That is a good prayer we ought to pray, but
by the context of the verse, the word “justice” should really be “mercy”, ‘lest
you bring me to nothing.’ This
cross-references to Proverbs 3:11-12.] Pour out your fury on the Gentiles, who do
not know you, and on the families who do not call on your name; for they have
eaten up Jacob, devoured him and consumed him, and made his dwelling place
desolate.”
Jeremiah 11:1-23
The
Broken Covenant
Halley has, “This chapter seems to belong to
the period of reaction, after Josiah’s great reformation, as told in II Kings
23, when the people had restored their idols. For Jeremiah’s rebuke they had plotted his death.” J. Vernon McGee has this to say, “In chapters
11 and 12 Jeremiah delivers this tremendous message after the Law has been read
to the people.” Remember, Hilkiah,
Jeremiah’s father, who was also the high priest, had just found the Law of
God. Now it has just been read to the
people. “I must remind you that
following the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, God went on to
pronounce certain judgments if the Law were disobeyed. These are the things that Jeremiah
emphasizes, the aspects of the Law which conditioned the way we live our
lives---the way you treat your
neighbor, the way you conduct your business, and the kind of social life you
are living…verses 19-21, God tells Jeremiah, ‘There is no use speaking to
Anathoth anymore. They have rejected me,
and they want to kill you. Don’t bother
to prophesy to them any longer.’ There
are churches today who no longer stand for the things of God or teach the Word
of God as they once did. And some people
of God think it is terrible that their memberships are dwindling and that the
churches are being deserted. What is terrible is that the Word of God is not being taught in their pulpits. Jeremiah stopped giving the Word of God in
Anathoth. He went somewhere else,
because the people were going to kill him; they had rejected the Word of
God.” Anathoth was Jeremiah’s home
town. Jesus in similar fashion had to
move from Nazareth and establish his headquarters in Capernaum. “In spite of the fact that Judah made a
covenant to serve God, the revival in the land proved to be a largely surface
movement.” [ibid. p. 374] Consider verse
15, which starts out “What is my beloved doing in my temple as she works out
her evil schemes with many?” You can be worshipping in a true Christian church
and yet not be of God. The Temple was
God’s place for true worship at that time.
“The word that
came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ‘Hear the words of the covenant, and speak to
the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and say to them, Thus
says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of the covenant which I
commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from
the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do according to all that I command
you; so shall you be my people, and I will be your God, that I may establish
the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk
and honey, as it is this day.’ And I answered and said, ‘So be it, LORD.’ Then the LORD said to me, ‘Proclaim all these words in the cities of
Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant
and do them. For I earnestly exhorted
your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this
day, rising early and exhorting, saying, ‘Obey my voice.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear,
but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring
upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘A conspiracy has been found among the men of
Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused
to hear my words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house
of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with
their fathers.’ Therefore thus says the
LORD: ‘Behold,
I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and
though they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but
they will not save them at all in the time of trouble. For according
to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets
of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.’ So do not pray for this people, or lift up a
cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to me because of their trouble.” God
just told Jeremiah in verse 14 not to pray or offer any plea or petition for the
people of Judah and Jerusalem, because they had become so corrupt in their
lifestyle and worship. “Don’t even pray
for them” is essentially what God said. According to the end of verse 13, they were still praying to Baal,
albeit secretly while Josiah was still alive. Jeremiah and Josiah did not succeed in bringing real spiritual revival
to Judah and Jerusalem during Josiah’s lifetime, even though five to seven of
the tribes of Israel who had returned and kept that special Passover in 621BC
were sincerely worshipping Yahweh, God. “What has my beloved to do in my house,
having done lewd deeds with many? And
the holy flesh has passed from you. When
you do evil, then you rejoice. The LORD called your name,
Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good
Fruit. With the noise of a great tumult
he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken. For the LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against
you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they
have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense to
Baal.”
Plot
Against Jeremiah, His Life Threatened
“Now the LORD gave me knowledge of
it, and I know it; for you showed
me their doings. But I was like a docile
lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes
against me, saying, ‘Let us destroy
the tree with the fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name may be remembered no more.’ But, O LORD of hosts, you who judge righteously, testing the mind and
the heart, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have revealed my
cause. Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men
of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, lest you die by our
hand’---therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their
sons and their daughters shall die by famine; and there shall be no remnant of
them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their punishment.’”
The
death of the good king Josiah, one righteous ruler ruling over an evil
nation—609BC
Let’s
have a small review of this period of time, going to the historic chapters of
the Bible which are recording this period of time leading up and going through
Jeremiah chapter 11 and 12. We’ll start reading from 2nd Kings 23:19 and go through
verse 34. “Now Josiah also took away all
the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds
he had done in Bethel. He executed all
the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them: and he returned to
Jerusalem. Then the king commanded all
the people, saying, ‘Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant [the Book of the Law].’ Such a Passover surely had never been held
since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the
kings of Israel and the kings of Judah [with one exception, the famous Passover
held by Hezekiah]. But in the eighteenth
year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the LORD in Jerusalem (621BC, Josiah was 26 years old, Jeremiah
was about 25 years old). Moreover Josiah
put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and
idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in
Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the
book Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. Now before him
there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his
might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him. Nevertheless the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with
which his anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations with
which Manasseh had provoked him. And the
LORD said, ‘I will also remove Judah from my sight as I have
removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and
the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all
that he did are they not written in
the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? In his
days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the
River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh
Necho killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him. [See p. 451, “Egypt of the Pharaoh’s” by
Sir Alan Gardiner. This was Pharaoh Neko
II, who ruled Egypt from 610 to 595BC. Comment: Babylon was vying for
superpower, or empire status in the Middle East, the Assyrian Empire was gone,
destroyed in the second Scythian-Assyrian War in 624 BC. In 612/611BC the withdrawing Black Sea
Scythian-Israelites helped the Babylonians deal the deathblow to Nineveh,
capital city of the Assyrian Empire. But
the remnant of the Assyrian army along with their last king fled from Nineveh
when it was conquered, and took refuge in Haran, making it their last capital
city. The Babylonians, having grown
really strong with Scythian military aid now attacked and successfully sacked
Haran, driving out the Assyrians and their king. It is at this point that this last king of
Assyria called to Egypt and Pharaoh Neko II for help. Egypt, in a vain attempt to forestall this
meteoric rise of the Babylonian Empire, was coming north to aid the weakened
Assyrians in a last-ditch attempt to take back their capital city of Haran and
drive the Babylonians out of it. Josiah
foolishly stepped into the middle of this by trying to stop Pharaoh Necho from
crossing through Judah and met Pharaoh’s forces at Megiddo where he died in his
attempt. But Josiah may also have been
trying to protect the rear-elements of the withdrawing Black Sea
Scythian-Israelites, who in reality should have been fully withdrawn from the
Middle East anyway by now (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kings/5.html)] Then his servants moved his body in a chariot
from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. [Pharaoh Neko II got to Haran with the
weakened Assyrian army, but they were not able to drive the Babylonians out of
Haran and retake the city. It is thought
that this last king of Assyria died in the battle. The Assyrian Empire is now officially
dead. Elements of the Assyrian army
under one of its generals, along with some of their population are thought to
have escaped, moving upward along the Danube into southeastern Europe. No more is heard from the war-like Assyrian
people. Back in Judah now.] “And the
people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him
king in his father’s place. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he
became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison at Riblah
in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on
the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of
Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and changed his name to
Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.” It says in chapter 24, verse 1, “In his days
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years.” So Nebuchadnezzar has consolidated power in
the region. Verse 7 says, “And the king
of Egypt did not come out of his land anymore, for the king of Babylon had
taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the
River Euphrates.” This is the
geo-political situation from about now in Jeremiah 12 onward. We will refer back to the rest of chapter 24
and then 25 of 2nd Kings as
they fit into the appropriate chapters of Jeremiah to come. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/kings/6.html for a more detailed study dealing with this whole period of time in the history
of the House of Judah that covers the historic events when the following
chapters were written.
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