An Everlasting Love

An Everlasting Love

Jeremiah Chapters 29-33

I Will Be Found by You

These chapters continue to tell of the conflict between Jeremiah and the false prophets, but also begin to tell a very strong word of hope for the people in exile. Chapter 29 begins with a letter from Jeremiah to those already in exile. As recorded in 2 Kings 24:12-17, the exile originally included only a select group, and it is this group to whom Jeremiah wrote. The message from the Lord in the letter was, first, as recorded in verses 4-9, that the people should settle down in the land the land and prepare to dwell there. The letter says for seventy years, but as elsewhere in the Bible this is meant as a good, long period of time. The Lord also says in this section that the people should pray for the prosperity of those who hold them in captivity. This is new thinking for the people of Israel, who have always prayed for the Lord to destroy their enemies, but it prefigures the teaching of Jesus (Matthew 5:43-48) that we should love our enemies and not just our friends.

In verses 10-14 there is a powerful message of hope, for the Lord says that, just as the people have chosen to forsake the Lord for other gods, they will turn again to the Lord, and when they seek the Lord, the Lord will be found. This is an amazing promise. No matter whether we know what we are doing, the Lord has a plan, and the plan is always to redeem us.

I Will Be Your God

In Chapter 30, the word continues that, though the times will be difficult indeed, the people will be saved. In verses 12-17, the Lord says that the people suffer from a wound that cannot be healed, there is no one left to help them, and no one to plead their cause. Certainly, we all know this situation. We feel it more or less from time to time or one situation to another, but our very humanity is a wound which cannot be healed, and there is no one to help us or to plead our cause. But we are made human and imperfect by a God who loves to love us, by a God who does what cannot be done.

In verses 22-24 the Lord says that we will be his people, and he will be our God – the simplest and most direct description of the covenant relationship with the Lord – and that he will not turn back until the purpose of his heart is accomplished. How can this be? How can the creator of the universe, and perhaps even more that is beyond our comprehension, be so engrossed with each of us? In the days to come, we will understand this.

The Voice in Ramah

Chapter 31 has one of the more famous passages in Jeremiah. Verse 15 is quoted in Matthew 2:16, where it is said that Herod’s killing of the Hebrew boy children was a fulfillment of this prophecy. In the verses 15-22, Rachel represents Israel, and Ephraim the people of Israel who have been taken in exile. The Lord tells Rachel to stop her weeping, for her children will be returned. But, just as in earlier passages, when the prophecy of impending military disaster is intermingled with warnings of spiritual disaster because the people have turned away from the Lord, in this prophecy, the people are not only being returned from their physical exile, but from their self-imposed spiritual exile, and the Lord tells the people, even as they wander away, to mark the path, so they can find their way back.

Jeremiah Buys a Field

In Chapter 32, Jeremiah is again seriously out of favor because of his preaching. This time King Zedekiah is displeased with him, and has him imprisoned. As described in verses 1-15, while Jeremiah is in prison, his cousin comes to visit him, and tells him he has a field for sale, and it is Jeremiah’s right to buy it. Consider the situation. Jeremiah is in prison in a city that is near either famine, or sword, and he is given the opportunity to buy land in a place he will never see again. Strangely, Jeremiah accepts, because the Lord tells him to do so as an object lesson, because there will be a day when fields are once again bought and sold.

Of course, for the Lord, it is never simply about property. In verses 34-44, the Lord says that the place is desolate and overrun, but will be restored. More over, the people have turned away from their God, but will return, and the Lord will establish an everlasting covenant with them. Whether we are at ease or in distress, whatever our situation, the Lord has a plan for our lives.

The Lord Our Righteousness

Chapter 33, has further promise of the restoration of the nation of Judah. Still mixed with the people’s concern for the restoration of the city is the Lord’s concern for the restoration of the covenant relationship. And, amidst the prophecy of the everlasting line of David’s throne, in verses 14-16, is the prophecy of one called The Lord Our Righteousness.

An Everlasting Love

In previous chapters, as the fall of the city was being foretold, the message of this disaster was intermixed with the people’s impending spiritual disaster. In 11:11-12, the Lord foretells a disaster that the people cannot escape: they have come to rely on their own gods, and these gods cannot help them. In these later chapters, the return of the city is foretold, and with it the spiritual rebirth of the people. Though the people have not changed their ways, still the Lord foretells their return. How is this possible? It is possible because, as the Lord says in 31:3-4, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” This is the way our Lord loves us: forgiving us before we even think of repenting. As Paul would later say, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Who Can Come Against Us?

Who Can Come Against Us?

Jeremiah Chapters 21-28

The Way of Life and Death

Chapters 21-28 of Jeremiah show a continuing confrontation between the will of the people and the will of the Lord. Early chapters stressed the loving nature of the Lord, and voice the Lord’s earnest desire that the people repent and return to their covenant relationship with the Lord. But the love of God is not mere sentimentality, and in these chapters the word from the Lord is that the behavior of the people is completely unacceptable. There is still a word of hope, however. In Jeremiah, judgment is never separate from love.

Chapter 21 tells the story of King Zedekiah’s request of God in response to a Babylonian attack. As recorded in verses 1-2, the king sent word to Jeremiah that he request the Lord to perform some wondrous work to save them from the oncoming invasion. This was not the Lord’s will however, and the Lord’s response is summarized in verses 8-9, where the Lord tells the people they may either surrender to the Babylonians and live, or stay in the city and die. As the Lord says “I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.” This was quite literally and immediately true for the people of Judah, but is always true that when we choose between the will of God and our own plans, we are choosing between the ways of life and death.

More and More Cedar

Chapter 22 is a judgment against many of the kings of Judah who reigned during Jeremiah’s service as a prophet. In the beginning verses, the kings are not named, and the judgment is general, but as the chapter progresses, the kings Shallum, Jehoiakim, and Jehoiachin are named as corrupt and unfit kings. This progression is intended for dramatic effect to get the attention of Jehoiachin, the current king, but the words of condemnation against Shallum are worth consideration today.

In verses 13-17, the Lord declares judgment upon those who build themselves up materially at the expense of others. Our society is so focused on getting ahead that we may have lost sight of what it means to have enough. All this affluence must come at someone else’s expense, whether we intend it to or not. The Lord says that this accumulation of wealth does not make anything of us, and to defend the cause of the poor and needy is to know the Lord.

A God Near and Far

In Chapter 23 attention turns from the kings who were misleading the people to false prophets, who were telling the people what the wanted to hear. Specifically, these prophets were telling the people that they would have peace, and that no harm would come to them. The Lord responds in several ways, but in verses 23-24 asks a series of questions beginning with “Am I only a God nearby… and not a God far away?” These lying prophets had made an age old mistake – one that is repeated to this day: they had tried to make God too small. God is at hand. We can turn to God and God will make everything right. We can know God through trust. On the other hand, we cannot know God intellectually, and we certainly cannot control God. God is God, or as God says “I am who I am” (Exodus 3: 14).

Captivity, Hope, and Judgment

Chapter 24 records another of Jeremiah’s epiphanies associated with everyday objects. In this case, Jeremiah sees two baskets of figs, one with good figs, and the other with figs so bad they cannot be eaten. Through this encounter outside the temple, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah to tell him that the good figs represented the portion of the people of Judah who would be taken off in captivity. They would have a covenant relationship with the Lord. “They will be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”(24:7b)

In Chapter 25, the note of finality intensifies, as Jeremiah says he was been prophesying to these people for twenty-three years, but they have not listened and they have not changed their ways, and now the Babylonians are coming. However, there is a note of hope, as the Lord says that, after seventy years, the Babylonians will be overthrown and the people will be released.

Verses 15-29 have a very strange passage. It is strange one the one hand, because it seems to say that Jeremiah’s ministry included all the nations around Judah, and also because it is more figurative, or symbolic, than is commonly found in Jeremiah. In it we are told that the Lord gave Jeremiah a cup filled with the “wine of my wrath” and sent him to make all the nations drink it. Presumably, the wine of the Lord’s wrath was the message that the Lord gave Jeremiah to preach. The use of the cup as the symbol of the Lord’s wrath is interesting, as it had been used (Psalm 116:13) to symbolize the cup of salvation. But this is not inconsistent with Jeremiah’s message all throughout the book: the people have refused to live in covenant with God, and as their punishment they must live without that relationship. The cup of salvation has become the cup of judgment, and no individual or nation can escape it.

You Must Die!

In Chapter 26, we are told of a threat against Jeremiah’s life. Jeremiah was preaching in the courtyard of the temple. According to the passage, he was preaching his standard fare, and fairly tame for him, too, but some of those hearing his message took offense. Their reaction which is recorded in verses 7-11, was to threaten Jeremiah’s life, because he delivered a message from the Lord which they did not wish to hear.

In our church today we no longer have prophets. We tend to think that the Lord has already said what is going to be said, and that we understand it. And, if anybody says anything different, well, they had better watch out.

The Yoke’s on You

In Chapter 27, the Lord tells Jeremiah to put on a yoke and wear it in front of the envoys of the various nations who are in Jerusalem. This visual aide is to underscore the Lord’s message that the people of all these nations should bow their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon. In Chapter 28, the false prophet Hananiah appears and claims to deliver a message from God that the Babylonians will be defeated in two years. Jeremiah, who is still wearing the yoke, confronts Hananiah before all the people. Hananiah, who himself has a flair for the dramatic, takes Jeremiah’s yoke and breaks it, and says the Lord will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Jeremiah slinks off, but the Lord tells him to go back and say “You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron.” (Verse 13)

Who Can Come Against Us?

If there is a common theme to these chapters, it is one of the continual struggle of the will of the people against the will of the Lord. There are kings who want the Lord to do their bidding, prophets who speak for themselves instead of their God and a people who generally seek their own goals rather than a covenant relationship with God. This general situation of conflict is expressed in 21:11-14, where the Lord reminds the people that they are expected to do what is right, but they do not, and this is not acceptable.

Still, the people are complacent. They have a feeling of security. They ask the question: “Who can come against us?” This question is quickly answered. Our security is in the Lord, not from the Lord. The cup is before is. Whether it is our salvation or our undoing is for us to choose.

Fire in my Bones

Fire in my Bones

Jeremiah Chapters 16-20

The Days Are Coming

In these chapters, we get more of a sense of the life of Jeremiah, as the Lord directs Jeremiah to act out prophecies, and as Jeremiah’s words and actions bring him into confrontation with other people, in particular with people who claim to be servants of the Lord.

In the opening verses of Chapter 16, we are told that the Lord has instructed Jeremiah to refrain from marriage, mourning, and feasts. We must remember that Jeremiah received his calling as a young man and, though it is recorded quite a few chapters into the book, he must have received this instruction early on, as marriages were arranged very early – sometimes even before birth it could be planned that a child from this family should be wed to a child from that, and to remain unwed was simply not an option. Likewise, the ceremonial participation in mourning and feast times was compulsory, and to refrain from such things was not only to forsake family obligations, but to break social customs and become the subject of ridicule.

The Lord tells Jeremiah to do these things as a sign to the people that their days in the land are not long. As before, however, the prophecy of the fall of Judah is mixed with something more ominous. In verses 10-15, the Lord says this disaster will befall the people because they choose to worship other gods, and their ultimate punishment will be to server other gods. In God, there is always hope, and the Lord even amid these dire warnings, promises a day when the people will be called together again.

Trust and Obey

Chapter 17 is evocative of the old hymn “Trust and Obey” as it deals first, in verses 5-8, with the issue of trust. The imagery is beautiful, and has inspired more than one song. The strength of man is like a bush that comes up in the desert, and immediately withers, but the strength of the Lords is constant, even in the worst of times. This stark contrast is placed here without any context. Certainly, the idols which the people worshipped were man-made, so to trust in their idols was to trust in themselves, and this might be the reason for the message. These days, we tend to skip the graven images and worship ourselves more directly, making idols of ourselves, rather than for ourselves.

Another possible explanation is that the people were relying on their own military strength, or on alliances they could form with other nations, but neither of these would last. The metaphor does not tell us that the drought will not come, but that we can always rely on the Lord, in good times and in bad.

But trust is only a part of our covenant relationship with the Lord. In verses 19-27, Jeremiah is told to remind the people that they must also obey the word of the Lord, in this case the law regarding the Sabbath. This is a very dramatic picture for what seems like a minor point of the law (it is not even the complete commandment to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy) but when things are out of control, you have to start somewhere. The Lord was reminding the people that they must not only put away their trust in other gods (which were no gods) and their trust in themselves, but they must make an effort to have a holy and separate time to worship the One True God.

Potter and Clay

As in the first chapter, when the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah through visions of the almond branch and the boiling pot, so here in Chapter 18 the Lord gives Jeremiah a vision through an every-day event. In verses 1-12, we are told how Jeremiah goes to the house of the potter and sees the potter at work. The potter begins to make a clay pot, but there is some flaw in the work, and he destroys the first pot and remakes it into something else. The Lord says that this can happen to the people, but they can still repent and be saved. As we are told repeatedly elsewhere in Jeremiah, many of the people believed that the Lord would do nothing, but the metaphor of the potter shows a God who is active in the universe, changing and shaping lives.

In the final verses of the chapter (18-23) we read of some un-named people who conspire to attack Jeremiah, and of Jeremiah’s not-very-spiritual response. This is how we sound to the Lord sometimes. Fortunately, the Lord is smart enough not to do everything we ask.

The Broken Jar

In Chapter 19, the Lord again has Jeremiah to act out a prophecy, one in this case which is closely related to the epiphany at the potter’s house which is recorded in the previous chapter.

The pagan practices had ways of twisting good things into bad things. In this case, they had taken the idea of sacrifice and defiled it by sacrificing children. A terrible idea, of course, but you can almost imagine the logic: if the sacrifice of the first and best fruits was a good thing, then the sacrifice of something even nearer and dearer would be a better thing. The Lord, of course, had never wanted any such thing, and would never condone it.

In the previous chapter, the Lord spoke of the potter and the clay. While the clay is still yielding, it can be remade. When it is cast, it can no longer be reshaped. If it is broken, it is useless. In the previous chapter, we are told how God always seeks to involve us in his will. In this chapter, we are reminded that the Lord’s will must ultimately be accomplished, whether we choose to be involved or not.

Fire in my Bones

In Chapter 20, we have a brief account of the persecution of Jeremiah at the hands of Pashhur, a priest and the son of the chief officer of the temple. This account is followed by a lament by Jeremiah, who begins by saying he has been deceived by the Lord, and ends by saying that he wishes he had not been born. Jeremiah has certainly come a long way from Chapter 1, where the Lord warns him that all these things will happen, and says he knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the womb.

In the midst of this despair, though, Jeremiah knows that he cannot help but proclaim the word of the Lord, which he feels like a fire in his bones. The Lord used not only Jeremiah’s words but his life as a message to the people. When times were good, the people deserted the Lord. As a result, they could no longer call on the Lord when times were bad. Jeremiah could not stop himself from calling on the Lord, even though it brought him into conflict with the religious leaders of his day. As I live a life of both material and spiritual ease, Jeremiah’s life is a challenge to me today.

Practice what You Preach

Practice What You Preach

Jeremiah Chapters 11-15

A Disaster They Cannot Escape

With Chapter 11, two changes take place in the tone and content of the book of Jeremiah. First, the book begins to be more about the actions of Jeremiah than only about the word of God through Jeremiah. Second, there is no longer any pretense over the finality of Judah’s situation. The chapter ends (in verses 18-23) with a reference to those who apposed Jeremiah, perhaps because he supported Josiah’s reformation, which would have forsaken the remote alters and returned all worship to Jerusalem.

This personal note aside, the major portion of the chapter is about the fate of the nation of Judah. In the initial verses, the Lord reminds the nation of the terms of their covenant, which they have broken. In verses 9-17, the Lord says that, as a result, the nation will suffer “a disaster they cannot escape.” What is this disaster? Certainly the word of the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah predicts the fall of Judah, but another disaster is foretold here. “Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.”

How can it come to this, that the Lord will not answer the people? In the following verse, the Lord says that the people continue to pray to their idols, and in verse 15 asks “What is my beloved doing in my temple as she works out her evil schemes with many?” Throughout the book of Jeremiah, the Lord calls the people to true repentance, and refuses to accept mere acts of worship. Though we do not think of ourselves as pagans, or as committing acts of ritual idol worship, we would do well to remember how the people of Israel and Judah came to follow these gods.

The people had been wanderers, and had settled in the land. Though God had instructed them to remain separate, they began to intermingle with the indigenous peoples and to learn their ways. The indigenous people depended on idols as a part of their daily life, and the Israelites began to do so as well. In addition to the simple fact that the Lord had expressly forbidden it, their idol worship was wrong in two ways. First, to some degree or another, the people replaced their trust in God with their trust in idols, which could do nothing for them. Second, they began to treat God like an idol, only asking for what they wanted when they wanted it. The net affect was to destroy the covenant relationship that God continually seeks to establish with his people.

The words “pagan” and “heathen” are unfortunate because of their socially derogative origins, but we have no other words to describe those things with, as we may think, have nothing to do with God. We have those things in our lives, and they may not seem like idol worship, any more than the bits of wood and stone may have seemed of any great importance to the Israelites. After all, what can bits of wood and stone do to God? They can do nothing to God, of course, but the smallest things can wield great power over men. Wood and stone make good tools, and there are many things of value that are outside the church, but we should never make the mistake of thinking that there are things that have nothing to do with God, or areas of our lives in which we can rely on sources other than God.

The Way of the Wicked

In Chapter 12, Jeremiah asks what might be the second-most often asked question, if we generalize a bit. After “Why me?” the next question is “Why not him?” The entire book of Job, of course, struggles with the question of why a righteous person should suffer, the disciples whose guilt caused a man to be born blind (John 9:1-3), and many of the Psalms ask why the righteous suffer or why the wicked prosper, or both. And it is an appropriate question to ask in the setting of Jeremiah. The change of voice in Jeremiah is quick and subtle, so it is not always clear who is speaking for whom. In verses 1-5, for example, it is not clear whether Jeremiah is speaking to the Lord on his own behalf, and “the wicked” are the false prophets who work against him, or if Jeremiah is speaking on behalf of the people, asking why the neighboring nations should prosper at their expense. The final verses of the chapter would seem to indicate the latter, and we will discuss them in a moment.

On the face of it, Jeremiah’s question seems legitimate: how could the Lord reward the enemies of Israel, who did not even know God, as punishment for those who knew, but were unfaithful. God answers this question in two ways. The first, in verse 5, is with another question. Essentially, God says if you are struggling now, how will you fare when things get bad? Now, this is certainly prophecy that things will get worse, but it is more. If we cannot answer the question, then we are missing something.

There is no question, from the witness of Jeremiah and several other books of the Old Testament, that the fall of Judah was a result of the actions of the people. If I were to fall and break my leg, it would be because of the way the world is made and, of course, God made the world, but we would not say that it was because of the Lord’s anger. If, on the other hand, I cut myself off from God’s love, it feels like fierce anger, just as the absence of heat feels like fierce cold. God tells Jeremiah that his thinking is wrong. It is not right to compare ourselves to others, or to their apparent success in this world, but to rely on God. And if we fail to do that when times are good, how will we fare when times are hard?

In verses 14-17, the Lord returns to the original question, and address the “wicked neighbors” in a way must have been shocking to all who heard it. The people had been offered a covenant relationship with the Lord and had come to believe that they were a special people. The Lord, however makes that same offer to everyone, and it is that relationship that is special, not any one nation or group of people. We, too, must be careful never to try to limit God, not in the kind of people God would redeem, or in the way in which God would redeem them.

The Linen Waistcloth

Chapter 13 has, in verses 1-11, a story of Jeremiah acting out prophecy. There are some problems with the translation. It begins with the Lord telling Jeremiah to buy a new piece of clothing, but we are not exactly certain what that piece of clothing is. The KJV says “girdle” (though we should not think of that in the modern sense) the NKJV says “sash”, the NASB says “waistband”, the RSV says “waistcloth”, and the NIV says “belt”. Whatever it was, the context would indicate that it was worn next to the skin, as the Lord instructs Jeremiah to wear it for some time without washing it. After that, the Lord instructs Jeremiah to take it somewhere and hide it for sometime. Exactly where is also in question. Most translations say “Euphrates”, but that would be about 350 miles from where Jeremiah was. The NIV and a few other translations say “Perath” (or some variant thereof) which was a small village near Anathoth.

So, what does it all mean? After being worn for some time without being cleaned, and then hidden in a crevice, the linen belt was useless. The Lord used it as a double symbol. The people, who had sought after other gods, had become useless because their gods were useless, and the One True God would have bound his people close to him, but they would not listen.

Drought

In Chapter 14, the word of the Lord comes concerning a drought. The drought may be real or metaphorical, but certainly, when, in verses 1-10 the Lord says “they go to the cisterns, but find no water”, this is evocative of 2:13, where the Lord says that the people have abandoned the living water, and have built for themselves broken cisterns. Whether or not there is an actual drought, the Lord speaks of a spiritual drought, which has the people asking the Lord, “Why are you like a stranger in the land?” In verse 10 the Lord answers that it the people love to wander with other gods and the Lord will not accept them.

There is a theology of “The Long Dark Night of the Soul” that says the Lord is sometimes quiet and does not answer us. I do not profess to be a theologian, and I am not the Bible scholar I should be, but I cannot accept this idea. The witness I find in the Bible is of a God who always is available, always reaches out to us. When the relationship is broken, it is because we have broken it.

Practice what You Preach

Having already asked, “Why not him?” in Chapter 15, Jeremiah now asks, “Why me?” The setting of this chapter is not clear. There are indications that it refers to the exile period, but this is not certain. In verses 15-20, when Jeremiah speaks of his prosecutors, he may be speaking of the other prophets who continually troubled him. Whatever the cause, his prayer is certainly familiar to me: “Oh Lord, why is this happening to me? I’ve done nothing bad, and I’ve done everything good.”

But, the Lord and Jeremiah have differing views on Jeremiah’s performance. Jeremiah says he has done everything right, but God says Jeremiah needs to repent. There are many word plays with “turn” throughout Jeremiah that are mostly lost in translation. Here it is used to give us an idea of what has been going on, as God says that the people should turn to Jeremiah, not the other way around.

I have been like that – so sure I know what is right, so sure I know what God wants, especially for other people. Sometimes, I need to stop and check with God.