Devotions

You Will Go to Babylon

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Jeremiah recognizes the exile is coming. There is no escaping and there is a prayer of intercession in Jeremiah 10:24 “Chastise me, O Yahweh, but in moderation, not in your anger, lest you eradicate me”. The Lord is driving out the “house of Judah”, but the Lord will not leave, in Jeremiah 12:14 “the evil neighbors who touch the inheritance that I gave as an inheritance to my people Israel” and the Lord says “Look, I am about to drive them out”. With the Lord there is always a promise of restoration and the Lord says in Jeremiah 12:15 “I will once again have compassion on them, and I will bring them back”. But there are some that will not return. The Lord knows the work of every person and speaks individually in Jeremiah 20:6 “And you, Pashhur … will go to Babylon, and there you will die … and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely”. The Lord does hold us accountable for our actions. 

Chastise Me in Moderation

Jeremiah 10:17–25
The people of Judah have resisted the word of the Lord from the prophets and now the Lord says in Jeremiah 18:18 “I will bring distress to them, so that they may feel it”. Now the people recognize in Jeremiah 10:20 “My tent is devastated … my children have gone”, in Jeremiah 10:21 “the shepherds … flocks have scattered”, and in Jeremiah 10:22 “a great roar … to make the cities of Judah a desolation”. Then there is the cry for God’s mercy in

Jeremiah 10:24 “Chastise me, O Yahweh, but in moderation, not in your anger, lest you eradicate me”.

followed by a cry to deflect God’s wrath against those that have abused Jacob in

Jeremiah 10:25 “Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you, and on the peoples that do not call on your name, for they have devoured Jacob, they have devoured and consumed him, and they have caused his settlement to be desolate”.

 

I Will Bring Them Back

Jeremiah 12:7–17
Even though the children of Israel have failed to keep the covenant, they have failed to live on the land that the Lord gave them as a people separate to him, the Lord says in Jeremiah 12:15 “I will once again have compassion on them, and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance, and each one to his land”. Sadly though, he first says in Jeremiah 12:14 “the house of Judah I will drive out from among them”. And it isn’t surprising that the Lord would remove those of his people that were in some way doing “evil in the sight of the Lord” (44 references in the KJV).

But what does seem surprising is that the Lord also remembers the land, the inheritance he gave to his people and in

Jeremiah 12:14 “Thus says Yahweh concerning all of the evil neighbors who touch the inheritance that I gave as an inheritance to my people Israel: “Look, I am about to drive them out from their land (the land of the house of Judah)”.

The Lord never forgets, he has set the boundaries, he has selected his people, see Deuteronomy 32:7–10 “the Most High apportioned⌋ the nations … he fixed the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the children of Israel. 9 For Yahweh’s portion was his people, Jacob the share of his inheritance … he encircled him, he cared for him, he protected him like the apple of his eye”. 

You Will Go to Babylon

Jeremiah 19:14–20:6
Jeremiah stood face to face with “Pashhur … the priest who was an officer in charge” in Jeremiah 20:1 and in Jeremiah 20:2 “Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in stocks”. This was because Jeremiah spoke in

Jeremiah 19:15 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Look, I am about to bring to this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their neck to not hear my words.’ ”

And while this was to be a seventy year exile for the people of Judah, the Lord spoke directly to Pashhur that he would die there in

Jeremiah 20:6 “And you, Pashhur, and all those who live in your house will go into captivity, and you will go to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

To You I Have Revealed My Legal Case

Jeremiah 20:7–18

O Land, Land, Land, Hear the Word of Yahweh

Jeremiah 22:24–30
The Lord sets the boundaries of people and nations. The land hears His voice.

Acts 17:26–27 “And he made from one man every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining their fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation, 27 to search for God, if perhaps indeed they might feel around for him and find him. And indeed he is not far away from each one of us”

Who Brought the House of Israel From the Land of the North

Jeremiah 23:1–8

The King of Babylon Brought Captive to Babylon

2 Kings 24:10–17
2 Chronicles 36:10
With objects of the treasure of the house of Yahweh.

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Jeremiah 10:17-25
  • Jeremiah 12:7-17
  • Jeremiah 19:14-15
  • Jeremiah 20:1-18
  • Jeremiah 22:24-30
  • Jeremiah 23:1-8
  • 2 Kings 24:10-17
  • 2 Chronicles 36:10
Devotions

Pack Your Baggage for Exile

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Judah is taken by Babylon and the seventy years of their exile begins. Egypt is also taken by Babylon and begins their own forty years of exile. This is the second great dispersion of the children of Israel and the Lord says in Jeremiah 9:16 “and I will scatter them among the nations that they have not known, they and their ancestors, and I will send the sword after them until I bring them to an end. But even with these days of judgement, there is the promise of a return. 

The Sword Will Devour Those All Around You

Jeremiah 46:9–17
Jeremiah has exhausted the word of the Lord for repentance and now says in Jeremiah 46:9 “let the warriors go forth” and in Jeremiah 46:10 “For that day is to the Lord Yahweh of hosts a day of retribution, to take revenge on his foes”.

In times past, “The onrushing Egyptians seem like the Nile when it is inundating the surrounding countryside (cf. Isa. 8:7f.). He said (8) is presumably a reference to pharaoh as the commander of Egypt’s forces”.1

However, over time, “Under Psammetichus I (c. 664–610 BC) the armed forces were reorganized around a core of Greek mercenaries … Cush (Ethiopia) and Put (Libya? Or Somalia?) supplied mercenary troops for Egypt”. 1

While Egypt had been a formidable power, they used others for their strength. Here, in Jeremiah 46:11 “O virgin of the daughter of Egypt … there is no healing for you”, “Egypt is so called on account of her effeminate luxury, and as having never yet been brought under foreign yoke”.2

In Jeremiah 46:17 “It is unclear what is meant by the reference to “appointed time” other than the fact that Pharaoh has missed his opportunity”.3 However, we know that the Lord always presents an opportunity for repentance, and opportunity to turn toward him before judgement comes. 

Pack Your Baggage for Exile

Jeremiah 46:18–28
Just as Judah, Jerusalem, Daniel and his fellows were taken by the Babylonians, so will Egypt be taken. The prophet tells them in Jeremiah 46:19 “Pack your baggage for exile, O inhabitants of the daughter Egypt”. Earlier, there was another word from the Lord in

Jeremiah 44:30 Thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, I am going to give Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah the king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, his enemy and the one who sought his life.’ ”

We don’t have much about Pharoah Hophra but of Zedekiah it was his refusal to humble himself and hear from the Lord in

2 Chronicles 36:11–12 “Zedekiah … did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for Yahweh”.

and it continues including the leaders of the priest and the people in

2 Chronicles 36:14–16 “All the leaders of the priests and the people likewise increased in unfaithfulness … 15 And Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, had repeatedly and persistently sent to them by the hand of his messengers … 16 But they were mocking the messengers of God and despising his words … until there was no remedy.

There is a similar inference to the pride of Pharoah who says “I made it for myself” in

Ezekiel 29:3 “Speak, and you must say, ‘thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great sea monster, the one lying down in the midst of his Nile streams, who says to me, “It is my Nile, and I made it for myself.”

and Egypt itself will go into exile for forty years in

Ezekiel 29:13 “For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “At the end of forty years I will gather Egypt from the peoples among whom they were scattered”.

Daniel and His Fellows are Taken to Babylon

Daniel 1:3–21
We don’t read this here, but it is about this time when Daniel was taken, see Daniel Set His Mind, 13 March 2018

“Children from “royal families and from the lords” were also taken in Daniel 1:3-7, “to be educated for three years. And at the end of their training, they were to be stationed before the king”. And among these children were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah”.

The King of Egypt Did Not Again Come

2 Kings 24:5–9
This is the end of Jehoiakim and the end of “the king of Egypt” in Jeremiah 24:7. Nebuchadnezzer rules and all come under his domination then has a dream.

The Remainder of the Words of Jehoiakim

2 Chronicles 36:8–9

Take Me Before The King

Daniel 2:1–49
Again, we are not reading about Daniel, but this is the time when Daniel is called to interpret a dream. See Take Me Before The King, 13 March 2018.

“Daniel then says, in vs. 28 “there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what it is that will be at the end of days””.

The Kings of Judah

1 Chronicles 3:10–16

Look, I See Four Men

Daniel 3:1–30
At the end of the reign of the kings of Judah, life is still challenging for those in captivity in Babylon, see Heat Up The Furnace, 14 March 2018.

In Daniel 3:23 ‘God’s three, who were bound “fell down into the midst of the furnace”’. 

I Will Scatter Them Among the Nations

Jeremiah 9:16–21
While many were taken captive to Babylon, some fled to Egypt and other nations as it says in

Jeremiah 9:16 “and I will scatter them among the nations that they have not known, they and their ancestors, and I will send the sword after them until I bring them to an end.”

For those that fled to Egypt, it says in

Jeremiah 44:14 “And there will not be a survivor or an escapee of the remnant of Judah, those who have come to dwell as an alien there in the land of Egypt, to return to the land of Judah where they are longing to return to dwell there, for they will not turn back, but only some survivors.’ ”

After Solomon, civil war split the Jewish people. The Northern Kingdom, ten tribes, had been conquered by the Assyrians and the people scattered. This captivity to Babylon and flight to Egypt was the second major dispersion of Judah, which was made up of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin with the Levites. Few returned from Babylon after this seventy year exile, but the nation continued until the temple was destroyed by the Romans after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Jeremiah 46:9-28
  • 2 Kings 24:5-9
  • 2 Chronicles 36:8-9
  • 1 Chronicles 3:10-16
  • Jeremiah 9:16-21

References

  • 1. Harrison, R. K. (1973). Jeremiah and Lamentations: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 21, pp. 173–174). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
  • 2. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 550). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
  • 3. Biblical Studies Press. (2006). The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Je 46:17). Biblical Studies Press.
Devotions

I Will Give Your Life

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Jeremiah is living through a very challenging time. People are not listening to the word of the Lord. Nations that have ruled with great power are falling away as others rise. The word of the Lord changes from Jeremiah 25:5 ‘Turn back please, … and live on the land that Yahweh has given to you” to drink from, in Jeremiah 25:15 “this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand”. Because, in Jeremiah 25:31 “there is a lawsuit of Yahweh against the nations”. Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch must go into hiding and Baruch cries out in Jeremiah 45:3 “Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain. The Lord responds in Jeremiah 45:5 “do you seek great things for yourself? … I am about to bring disaster upon all flesh … but to you I will give your life”. Is our day any less challenging? Can we be content? In John 4:34–35 Jesus said to them, “… do the will of the one who sent me and complete his work … look at the fields, that they are white for harvest”. 

You Have Not Inclined Your Ear to Hear

Jeremiah 25:1–11
A word again comes in Jeremiah 25:1 “concerning all the people of Judah”. They have seen the fall of Assyria and Egypt exerts control putting Jehoiakim on the throne but now Nebuchadnezzar, who had already been leading the Babylonian army, takes the throne.

Publicly in Jeremiah 25:2-3 “the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem … these twenty-three years the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you over and over again, but you have not listened”. Then again he says in Jeremiah 25:4 “you have not listened and you have not inclined your ear to hear”. Then in Jeremiah 25:7 “yet you have not listened to me” and in Jeremiah 25:8 “Therefore … because you have not obeyed …”. They could have responded. They could have heard. They could have obeyed and there would have been a different outcome. But now, they are headed for seventy years in exile.

Now, the Lord says in

Jeremiah 25:9–11 “I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant … against this land, and … all these nations all around, and I will destroy them … 10 And I will exterminate from them … the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11  … these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

The prophets (God’s servants) had been sent to warn them and turn them to avoid this judgement, but now, “Nebuchadnezzar has become king of Babylon (25:1), and he will be God’s servant in judging and destroying them (25:8–10). The land will lie waste and its people languish in exile for seventy years (25:11–14)”.1

All of their way of life, their culture will be disrupted, “Social life (marriages), business (millstones), and home life (light) will cease”.2

As a side note, “After the division of Solomon’s kingdom in 922 B.C., the relatively weaker states of Judah and Israel more often were forced to pay tribute to the large powers which increasingly dominated the Near East … The Jews later paid tribute in one form or another to Babylon, Persia, the Ptolemies and Seleucids, and Rome”.3

Take This Cup of the Wine of Wrath

Jeremiah 25:12–26
The message has changed. No longer is it listen and turn, now it is a pronouncement of the Babylonian captivity. But even more than that, it is a pronouncement of judgement on the nations in Jeremiah 25:12 “And then when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation”. But in the middle of this pronouncement, we shift to a spiritual encounter between Jeremiah and the Lord and in Jeremiah 25:15 “all the nations to whom I am sending you”. Then the Lord says in Jeremiah 25:16 “they will drink” and in

Jeremiah 25:17 “So I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and I gave it to all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me to drink”.

Then Jeremiah lists nations and towns and kings and officials and servants in Jeremiah 25:18-26.

But who will drink? It is clear that this cup releases a spiritual force, in Jeremiah 25:16 “because of the presence of the sword that I am sending among them.”, an angel of the Lord (see Numbers 22:33, 1 Chronicles 21:16, 27, Jeremiah 47:6).

And I don’t think it is too much to say that there are “spiritual forces of evil” as “In Ephesians 6:12, Paul states that our battle is not against “flesh and blood” but against the powers, “the world rulers of this present darkness” and the “spiritual forces of evil.” This suggests that the powers throughout Ephesians are hostile and demonic”.4

We could develop this more, but clearly, the devil has authority over the kingdoms of the world or he would not have been able to offer this temptation to Jesus in

Luke 4:5–6 “And he led him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to him, “I will give you all this domain and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I can give it to whomever I want.

 

There is a Lawsuit of Yahweh Against the Nations

Jeremiah 25:27–38
There is a judgement coming at the end of the Babylonian captivity in

Jeremiah 25:31 “The rage of battle will resound to he end of the earth, for there is a lawsuit of Yahweh against the nations. He is entering into judgment with all wicked flesh, he will give them to the sword,’ declares Yahweh.”

but there is a greater judgement coming at the end when Babylon, “the dwelling place of demons” in Revelation 18:2 receives “the cup that she mixed” in

Revelation 18:6 Pay back to her as she herself also paid out, and pay back double according to her deeds; in the cup that she mixed, mix double for her.

 

I Will Give Your Life

Jeremiah 45:1–5
In the midst of Jeremiah’s twenty three years of struggle to get the the word of the Lord to the people of Judah, we find a message from the Lord to Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah. But first, who was Baruch? He “may have worked as a royal scribe before his employment with Jeremiah, as evidenced by the discovery of a seal impression reading, “belonging to Berechiah, son of Neriah, the scribe” (Avigad, “Baruch the Scribe and Jerahmeel the King’s Son,” … (and) well-known or respected in Israel. For example, he was able to speak in the temple precinct and hold private meetings with the king’s officers; the officers’ request that he go into hiding also attests to his popularity (Jer 36)”.5

And it may be this need to go into hiding that causes Baruch’s lament in Jeremiah 45:3 “Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary in my groaning and I do not find rest”.

Baruch likely had a good natural career path based on family relationships and position. But he gave that up the work with Jeremiah. And now he is asking “What did I get for this?”

There are many of us that must also understand the time that we live in. We might take the Lords response for ourselves. The Lord answers him, in

Jeremiah 45:4-5 “Thus you will say to him: ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, what I have built I am about to tear down, and what I have planted I am about to pluck up, it is all the land”. 5 And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek great things, for look, I am about to bring disaster upon all flesh,” declares Yahweh, “but to you I will give your life as booty in all the places where you may go.” ’ ”

There is a time when God’s blessing will come, when he will wipe away every tear, but now is the time for harvest. As it says in

John 4:34–35 Jesus said to them, “My food is that I do the will of the one who sent me and complete his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months and the harvest comes’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.

The time is short. It isn’t time to worry about a promotion or retirement or the things of this world. It is enough that in Jeremiah 45:5 “I will give your life as booty in all the places where you may go”.

Who is This That Rises

Jeremiah 46:1–8

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Jeremiah 25:1-38
  • Jeremiah 45:1-5
  • Jeremiah 46:1-8

References

  • 1. Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., p. 308). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
  • 2. Martens, E. A. (1995). Jeremiah. In Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3, p. 538). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
  • 3. Brisco, T. V. (2003). Tribute. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (p. 1625). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
  • 4. Dunne, J. A. (2016). Principalities and Powers. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
  • 5. Bledsoe, A. M. D. (2016). Baruch, Jeremiah’s Scribe, Son of Neriah. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Devotions

Can You Not Learn a Lesson

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The Lord has spoken directly to the leaders and the people through the prophet, but they don’t listen. So, the Lord brings the Rechabites into the temple and tests them before everyone, saying “Drink wine”. They had been forbidden by their ancestral father and every generation, men, women, and children kept this commandment. Then the Lord says, in Jeremiah 35:14b-15 “But I have spoken to you over and over again, and you have not listened”. Again, the Lord sends a scroll to the king and he burns it as it is being read. Once more, the Lord sends, but now in the most public place, when the most people will gather in Jeremiah 36:6 “read aloud from the scroll … in the hearing of the people in the temple of Yahweh on a day of fast”. Is it any different today? The Lord wants us to pray for those in authority because he, in 1 Timothy 2:4 “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”. 

We Have Done All Our Ancestor Commanded

Jeremiah 35:1–10
The Lord has spoken to his people time and again from generation to generation and yet they continue to follow after other gods, other nations, and their own desires. So, the Lord takes a different approach and instructs Jeremiah to go to the Rechabites who he will use as an object lesson, “an acted parable, the little drama was to be given publicity by being presented in the temple”.1

The prophet goes to, in Jeremiah 35:2 “the house of the Rechabites” which is an unusual way to refer to them because they were “a nomadic tribe belonging to the Kenites of Hemath (1 Ch 2:55), of the family of Jethro, or Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law (Ex 18:9, &c. Nu 10:29–32; Jdg 1:16). They came into Canaan with the Israelites, but, in order to preserve their independence, chose a life in tents without a fixed habitation (1 Sa 15:6)”.2

What Jeremiah does, is brings the whole nomadic camp, in Jeremiah 35:3-5 “his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole of the house of the Rechabites, 4 and I brought them to the house of Yahweh, into the chamber … and I said to them, “Drink wine” but they refused. They answered in Jeremiah 35:6-10 “We will not drink wine … our ancestor, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your children, forever. 7 And you shall not build a house … but in tents you shall live all your days … and we have obeyed, and we have done all … our ancestor, commanded us”. 

Can You Not Learn a Lesson

Jeremiah 35:11–19
The Lord now says through the prophet in Jeremiah 35:13 “Can you not learn a lesson to listen to my words?” and he goes on with this object lesson, the Rechabites who were faithful to the command of their ancestors in

Jeremiah 35:14 “The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his descendants to not drink, have been carried out, and they have not drunk until this day, for they have obeyed the command of their ancestor”.

Then the Lord contrasts the messages he has sent in

Jeremiah 35:14b-15 “But I have spoken to you over and over again, and you have not listened to me. And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, I have sent them over and over again, saying, ‘Turn back please each one from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and you must not go after other gods to serve them, so that you may live on the land that I gave to you and to your ancestors.’ But you did not incline your ear and you did not listen to me”.

Then the Lord says two things:

First, in Jeremiah 35:17 ‘Therefore thus says Yahweh, … “Look, I am going to bring to Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem every disaster that I have spoken against them, because I have spoken to them and they have not listened” ’.

Second, and this is surprising, in Jeremiah 35:18-19 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have listened to the command of Jonadab your ancestor, and you have kept all his commands, and you have done all that he commanded you,’ 19 therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘A man will not be cut off for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, to stand before me always.’ ” Here, the Lord honors the Rechabites, not because they did what the Lord asked, but they honored their ancestral father.

We might remember one of the ten commandments from

Deuteronomy 5:16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you, so that it will be good for you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you’.

But the Lord extends this blessing from “it will be good for you in the land” to the future generations of Rechab will “stand before me always”.

For the Blood of the Innocent

2 Kings 24:1–4

Nebuchadnezzar Brought to Babylon the Objects of the House of Yahweh

2 Chronicles 36:6–7

The King of Babylon Came to Jerusalem and Besieged It

Daniel 1:1–2 

You Shall Read Aloud the Words of Yahweh

Jeremiah 36:1–13
The Lord prepares to speak through Jeremiah again, and in a different way saying to him in

Jeremiah 36:2 “Take for yourself a scroll and you must write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day that I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, and until this day”.

Then the prophet instructs Baruch, his scribe, who “came from a wealthy and powerful Judean family—his grandfather had been a governor in Jerusalem under King Josiah (2 Chron. 34:8), and his brother Seraiah had been King Zedekiah’s chief chamberlain (Jer. 51:59)”3 and tells Baruch he is to read publicly “on a day of fast” when it is known that many people will be there in

Jeremiah 36:6 “So you must go and you shall read aloud from the scroll that you have written from my mouth the words of Yahweh in the hearing of the people in the temple of Yahweh on a day of fast, and also you shall read aloud in the hearing of all those of Judah who came from their towns”.

This was not a regular feast where all men were required in Jerusalem it was though, one of the “fast days (that) were called on special occasions, i.e., in times of drought or a locust plague (Joel 1:14; 2:15), or during a military crisis (2 Chr 20:3), or after defeat in battle (1 Sam 31:13; 2 Sam 1:12)”.4 And it seems that “In December 604 BC, the Babylonians are advancing through the towns of Philistia … Perhaps because of this, the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem hold a fast—a day without food, for mourning and prayer (36:9). It is on this occasion that Baruch gives a public reading of Jeremiah’s prophecies in one of the rooms of the temple (36:10)”.5

Hearing All the Words, They Turned to One Another in Alarm

Jeremiah 36:14–21

Jehoiakim, the King of Judah Burned the Scroll

Jeremiah 36:22–32

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Jeremiah 35:1-19
  • 2 Kings 24:1-4
  • 2 Chronicles 36:6-7
  • Daniel 1:1-2
  • Jeremiah 36:1-32

References

  • 1. Harrison, R. K. (1973). Jeremiah and Lamentations: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 21, p. 151). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
  • 2. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 542). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
  • 3. Losch, R. R. (2008). In All the People in the Bible: An A–Z Guide to the Saints, Scoundrels, and Other Characters in Scripture (p. 59). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
  • 4. Biblical Studies Press. (2006). The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Je 36:6). Biblical Studies Press.
  • 5. Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., p. 312). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
Devotions

Hear the Words of This Covenant
and Do Them

by  • 

Again and again the Lord brings the word of the covenant to the people by the prophet. The words are specific about their sin in Jeremiah 7:9 “Will you steal? Will you murder? And will you commit adultery? And will you swear falsely?” and clear with examples from their own history of what happened in Shiloh. If you aren’t familiar with Shiloh, read on. But now even Jeremiah is feeling the pain of these words and what was a joy to him, to be the Lords servant separates him from the people. He is alone but the Lord says in Jeremiah 15:19-20 “stand before me (the Lord) … utter what is precious and not what is worthless … they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you, to save you, and to deliver you”. 

You Must Not Plead With Me

Jeremiah 7:9–16
The Lord recounts the sins being committed by his people in the city that carries his name in

Jeremiah 7:9 “Will you steal? Will you murder? And will you commit adultery? And will you swear falsely? And will you make a smoke offering to the Baal? And will you go after other gods whom you have not known?”

Then the people come into the Lords temple in

Jeremiah 7:10 “And then you come and you stand before me in this house, which is called by my name”

So, the Lord reminds them of what happened in Shiloh. This is not likely a familiar account for most of us. Read these few references to understand what happened after “God caused His tabernacle to be set up in Shiloh in Joshua’s days (Jos 18:1; Jdg 18:31). In Eli’s time God gave the ark, which had been at Shiloh, into the hands of the Philistines (Je 26:6; 1 Sa 4:10, 11; Ps 78:56–61)”.1

What the Lord had intended as a holy place for him to reside with his people, Shiloh, was defiled as the temple in Jerusalem was being defiled in Jeremiahs day. There is a point where the Lord’s long suffering comes to an end and after the Lord had sent word in Jeremiah 7:2-8, the Lord is finished in

Jeremiah 7:16 “And you, you must not pray for this people, and you must not lift up for them a cry of entreaty or a prayer, and you must not plead with me, for I will not hear you”.

Obey My Voice, and I Will be to You God

Jeremiah 7:17–27

This is the Nation That Has Not Obeyed

Jeremiah 7:28–8:3 

Hear the Words of This Covenant and Do Them

Jeremiah 11:1–8
Again the Lord sends word through the prophet, in

Jeremiah 11:2–4 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 3 and say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “The man is cursed who does not obey the words of this covenant, 4 which I commanded your ancestors in the day of my bringing them from the land of Egypt, from the furnace of iron, saying, ‘Listen to my voice and do according to all that I command you, so will you be my people, and I will be your God.’

Egypt is not that far away, it was “the furnace of iron” desert then, and it was desert in their day, and it is desert now. This was some four hundred years after the Lord had delivered Israel from Egypt but it wasn’t completely forgotten history and “Having once left behind a furnace for smelting iron, a reference to the acute sufferings of bondage (cf. Deut. 4:20; Isa. 48:10), they should have taken care to avoid further enslavement”.2

But even with all this, in Jeremiah 11:8 “they did not incline their ear. Instead each one walked in the stubbornness of his own evil heart”

I Will Not Listen to Them

Je 11:9–17 

For I Am With You, To Save You

Jeremiah 15:10–21
The prophet himself is feeling the weight of the Lords judgement. Not because he is doing wrong, but because the people refuse to listen. For the prophet, the words were joyous and he was honored to be named as the Lords servant in

Jeremiah 15:16 “Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became to me as jubilation, even as the joy of my heart, for your name is called on me, O Yahweh God of hosts”.

But because of the word of the Lord, the prophet is separated from all of the people in

Jeremiah 15:17b–18a “Because of the presence of your hand I sat alone, for you filled me with indignation. 18 Why is my pain endless, and my wound incurable? It refuses to become healed”.

and the Lord cautions him to speak carefully in Jeremiah 15:19 “if you utter what is precious and not what is worthless, you will be as my mouth”. And now Jeremiah has his own choice, will he “turn back to them” and yield to please the people and find company with them in their destruction and misery? How many times has someone come to you with their troubles wanting you to commiserate and feel sorry for them. But the Lord says, if he as a prophet will “stand before me (the Lord)”, in Jeremiah 15:20 “they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you, to save you, and to deliver you”.

I Spoke in the Times You Were Secure

Jeremiah 22:18–23
During the times you were at ease, when there was no pressure, when you were not distracted. But you refused to listen. How can you hear now?

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Jeremiah 7:9-34
  • Jeremiah 11:1-17
  • Jeremiah 15:10-21
  • Jeremiah 22:18-23

References

  • 1. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 514). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
  • 2. Harrison, R. K. (1973). Jeremiah and Lamentations: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 21, p. 98). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Devotions

He is the Maker of the Earth by His Power

by  • 

The Lord is the creator of heaven and earth and yet people boast about many things, their wisdom, their wealth, their strength. The Lord is looking for one who knows the Lord and demonstrates it by, in Jeremiah 9:24 “showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth”. The Lord asks, in Jeremiah 9:12 “Who is the wise man that can understand this?”. The Lord sends the prophet saying in Jeremiah 26:3 “Perhaps they will listen and turn back each from his evil way”, though no one listens. Instead, they in Jeremiah 26:8 “the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You will die!”. They are not only rejecting the prophet, but they are rejecting the Lord’s plea in Jeremiah 26:13 “amend your ways and your deeds”.

Who Is the Wise Man That Can Understand

Jeremiah 9:4–15 

The One Who Boasts Boast That he Knows Me

Jeremiah 9:22–26
There are many things men boast about, their wisdom, their strength, their conquests in Jeremiah 9:20. But in the test of time and in the annals of history, there is one thing that a man can boast about and that is in

Jeremiah 9:24 But only in this must the one who boasts boast, that he has insight, and that he knows me, that I am Yahweh, showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight,” declares Yahweh.

The prophet is talking about more than just knowing the Lord. There is “insight” and wisdom to live “showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness”. This is “contrary to the dogma of some philosophers, that God does not interfere in terrestrial concerns (Ps 58:11) … in these … I delight—as well in doing them as in seeing them done by others (Mic 6:8; 7:18)”.1

How many men today are willing to faithfully love the wife of their youth? How many will love the mother of their children? These are things for a man to boast about. The man that can boast in the Lord is the one that does what the Lord has asked in

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does Yahweh ask from you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

 

He is the Maker of the Earth by His Power

Jeremiah 10:1–16
There is a word from the prophet “O house of Israel” in Jeremiah 10:1 but it is not from the prophets own mind, it is not from his intellect or imagination. in

Jeremiah 10:2 ‘Thus says Yahweh: “You must not learn the way of the nations, and you must not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed by them …”‘

There is a natural worldly knowledge and wisdom that people seek after, but it cannot save them. These things, in Jeremiah 10:9 “the work of the craftsman”, will perish. So the prophet brings the word from the Lord in

Jeremiah 10:11 “Thus you shall say to them, ‘Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens…'”

As it says in

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems upright to a man, but its end is the way of death”.

 

Amend Your Ways and Obey the Voice of Yahweh Your God

Jeremiah 26:1-13
Judah had fallen away from following the Lord before king Josiah. But Josiah turned to seek the Lord and they found peace the remainder of Josiah’s life (see Because You Have a Responsive Heart). Now, the Lord makes an offer again to Josiah’s son saying in

Jeremiah 26:3 “Perhaps they will listen and turn back each from his evil way, and I will relent of the disaster that I am planning to do to them because of their evil deeds”.

But when they heard these words, rather than humble themselves and “amend their ways” they responded in

Jeremiah 26:8 “And then as Jeremiah finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You will die!”

It wasn’t the word of the prophet they rejected, it was the word of the Lord offering them a way to delay judgement. The Lord was giving them an opportunity to turn back to him. This was about one hundred years after Jonah had gone to Nineveh and the whole nation repented, then fallen away again and were destroyed near the time of Josiah’s death. The point is, there were examples for them to see of the power of repentance, but they would not hear it.

Yahweh (the Lord) Sent Me to You to Speak

Jeremiah 26:14–24

If You Truly Do Justice

Jeremiah 7:1–8

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Jeremiah 9:4-26
  • Jeremiah 10:1-16
  • Jeremiah 26:1-24
  • Jeremiah 7:1-8

References

  • 1. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 516). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.