The Lord makes what seems to be a simple request in Jeremiah 22:3 Thus says Yahweh, “Act with justice and righteousness …”. But the sons of Josiah are subject to tribute at the hands of Egypt. The peace the Lord had promised during the days of Josiah were over. The few years of tribute to Egypt may have seemed unbearable, but then came the captivity in Babylon. Habakkuk brings a word of deliverance from the Lord who says “Write the vision and make it plain … For there is yet a vision for the appointed time”. Our answers don’t always come the way we want them to, but one thing is certain, the righteous judge of heaven and earth will return for those that love his appearing.
Act With Justice and Righteousness
Jeremiah 22:1–9
People often quote the two greatest commandments from Matthew 22:37–39 “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” What we forget though, is the kind of love Jesus is talking about is not the romantic infatuation, it is not the emotional feeling that is fleeting.
The love Jesus is talking about is committed love that honors the relationship by considerate action. The love Jesus is talking about is in John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. And if we read now understanding that the Lord wants us to act in a manner that is pleasing to his character and nature then we may understand why Jeremiah 22:3 acts as a gate, as a doorway, that controls the Lords response to us. When we honor the word of the Lord, he embraces us. When we reject the word of the Lord, we have rejected him. Is it such a hard thing that the Lord asks of us in
Jeremiah 22:3 Thus says Yahweh, “Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been seized from the hand of the oppressor. And you must not oppress or treat violently the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place”.
He Judged the Legal Cause of the Needy and the Poor
Jeremiah 22:10–17
He Did Evil in the Eyes of Yahweh
Nebuchadnezzar Brought to Babylon
the Objects of the House of Yahweh
2 Chronicles 36:2–5
Josiah’s son Jehoahaz was made king at Josiah’s death in 2 Chronicles 36:1 “And the people of the land took Jehoahaz … and made him king”. However, he was not the next in succession, “Jehoahaz … was the youngest son of Josiah, but the popular favorite, probably on account of his martial spirit (Ez 19:3) and determined opposition to the aggressive views of Egypt”.1
But he ruled only three months because in 2 Chronicles 36:3 “the king of Egypt deposed him” and in 2 Chronicles 36:4 “the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim”.
It isn’t clear what happened between Jehoahaz and the king of Egypt except that Jehoahaz was deposed, taken to Egypt, and he died there (2 Kings 23:34) and it is likely that Jehoahaz had the same opposition and aggressive views toward Egypt that had led to his fathers death.
Jehoiakim, the one appointed by the king of Egypt, in 2 Chronicles 36:5 “was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God” and “His character is portrayed with a masterly hand in the prophecy of Jeremiah (Je 22:13–19). As the deputy of the king of Egypt, he departed further than his predecessor from the principles of Josiah’s government.1
So, in 2 Chronicles 36:6 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon went up against him, and he bound him with bronze fetters to bring him to Babylon”.
I am Raising up the Chaldeans
Habakkuk 1:1–11
He Sacrifices to His Fishnet
Write the Vision and Make it Plain
Habakkuk 2:1–10
There is a great line in these verse in Habakkuk 2:2 “Write the vision and make it plain on the tablet so that it might be read quickly”. And it has been used for all kinds of contexts as a way to underscore the need for vision and to direct human activity. But this is written for a specific plan, the plan that in
Habakkuk 2:3 For there is yet a vision for the appointed time; it will give witness to the end, and it will not lie. If it tarries, wait for it, for it will surely come and not delay.
This plan is for the exoneration of the righteous and the demise of, in Habakkuk 2:5 “the defiant; the arrogant, treacherous man? He who broadens his throat like Sheol, and who, like death, is not satisfied, and who gathers to himself all the nations, and harvested for himself all the peoples”.
Study Verses
- Jeremiah 22:1–9 Act With Justice and Righteousness
- 2 Chronicles 36:2–5 Nebuchadnezzar Brought to Babylon
- Habakkuk 2:1–10 Write the Vision and Make it Plain
Today’s Reading
- Jeremiah 22:1-17
- 2 Kings 23:31-37
- 2 Chronicles 36:2-5
- Habakkuk 1:1-17
- Habakkuk 2:1-10
References
- 1. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 287). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.