# commentaries

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<h4>For according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal- &nbsp;Each street of Jerusalem was named after an idol, just as was the case in Babylon (Jer 11:13)- and thus Jerusalem shared Babylon’s judgment. If we don’t come out from Babylon, we will share her judgments (Rev 18:4). Zion lost her children and also her husband whilst still a young woman (Isa 49:21; Isa 54:6), just as Babylon would (Isa 47:9).</h4>


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<h4>Therefore don’t pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to Me because of their trouble- See on :12. For the sake of our prayers, in some cases sins of others can be forgiven when otherwise they wouldn’t be. For the sake of our conversion of our erring brethren, they can be saved from eternal death and have their sins covered. The Lord’s prayer says as much- we ask God to forgive us our &nbsp;sins; not ‘me my sins’. Likewise only once Israel had passed a certain level of sinfulness was Jeremiah told to cease prayer for them (<a href='B:300 7:16'>Jer 7:16</a> cp. 11:14). Until that point, God seems to have been willing to read Jeremiah’s prayer for them as their prayer (his “cry” was seen as theirs). And <a href='B:330 14:14'>Eze 14:14</a>; <a href='B:330 14:18'>Eze 14:18</a> imply the same- Noah, Daniel and Job could have delivered Israel up to a certain point, but they were so hardened in sin at Ezekiel’s time that even those men wouldn’t have saved a nation which otherwise, for a lower level of sin as it were, they could otherwise have saved. If we have any grain of love in us, we will likewise dedicate ourselves to fervent prayer for our brethren, seeing it does have effect and validity within certain boundaries.</h4><p>Christ did not pray for the world (<a href='B:500 17:9'>Joh 17:9</a>), which in the context seems to refer to the unrepentant Jewish world (cp. <a href='B:300 11:14'>Jer 11:14</a>; <a href='B:690 5:8'>1Jn 5:8</a>) as well as the surrounding (Roman) world.</p><h4><a href='B:330 22:30'>Eze 22:30</a> says that if a person had been found at this time who would have powerfully interceded for Jerusalem ’stood in the gap’, God wouldn’t have destroyed Jerusalem -"that I should not destroy it"in <a href='B:330 22:30'>Eze 22:30</a> is an allusion to Abraham interceding for Sodom in <a href='B:10 18:28'>Gen 18:28</a>. But there was not such a person, because they were"all"dross (<a href='B:330 22:18-19'>Eze 22:18-19</a>). Jeremiah was in the land at the time and was surely righteous, but he had been told not to intercede for the people (<a href='B:300 11:14'>Jer 11:14</a>; <a href='B:300 14:11'>Jer 14:11</a>). It seems that if another like him had been found, in addition to Ezekiel in exile, then the judgments could have been averted. There were simply so many possible scenarios! And this is what we must expect if even time periods can be shortened or extended in response to human behaviour. And yet Jeremiah himself seems to have been too ’pro’ Israel. He was shocked at the depth of their weakness and even naive to it; and in Lamentations he seems to consider God had acted too harshly against His people. So perhaps in any case Jeremiah was not the appropriate interceder.</h4>


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<h4>What has My beloved to do in My house- Despite casting them out of His house, God still calls them His"beloved". This is really love amazing, and grace without compare.</h4><h4>Since she has worked lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from you? When you do evil, then you rejoice- LXX:"Will prayers and holy offerings take away thy wickedness from thee, or shalt thou escape by these things?". GNB:"Do they think they can prevent disaster by making promises and by offering animal sacrifices? Will they then rejoice?". It’s clear from :12,14 that they cried out to their idols when in their final desperation, and yet <a href='B:300 2:27'>Jer 2:27</a> says that at that point they cried to Yahweh as well. Likewise it seems they were madly offering sacrifices to every god they knew, including Yahweh. And that was exactly why God didn’t respond to them.</h4>


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<h4>Yahweh called your name, A green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit- The Lord’s words as He carried the cross"If they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"is packed with allusion to O:T. Scriptures (<a href='B:330 17:24'>Eze 17:24</a>; <a href='B:300 11:16'>Jer 11:16</a>; <a href='B:300 11:19'>Jer 11:19</a>; Psalms 1; <a href='B:300 17:5-8'>Jer 17:5-8</a>). His preceding words to the women were likewise; His quotation from <a href='B:350 10:8'>Hos 10:8</a> is set in a context so appropriate to the situation He was in. If they did these things to Him, the green and healthy shoot, what would be done to the dry dead wood of Israel…? His concern was always with the sufferings others would experience rather than being lost in His own introspection. Without getting too deeply involved in the actual exposition, a simple lesson emerges: He was not so overpowered by the terrible physicality of His human situation that He ceased to be spiritually aware. His mind was full of the word, not just out of place quotations flooding His subconscious, but real awareness of the spirit of the Father’s word and its’ intensely personal relevance to Himself. In this He sets a matchless example.</h4><h4>With the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken- I explained on <a href='B:300 10:8'>Jer 10:8</a> that the wooden idols were likened to the kindling wood, as it were stacked around Jerusalem. God kindled the fire, although it sounded like ["with the noise of::."] the invaders had done so. He worked through them. Both Yahweh and Israel are described as kindling the fire of judgment; He responded to what they had done (<a href='B:300 11:16'>Jer 11:16</a>; <a href='B:300 15:14'>Jer 15:14</a>; <a href='B:310 4:11'>Lam 4:11</a> cp. <a href='B:300 17:4'>Jer 17:4</a>). God"broke"the tree of Israel (s:w. <a href='B:300 25:29'>Jer 25:29</a>), but so did the invaders. The rejected are witnesses against themselves (<a href='B:290 44:9'>Isa 44:9</a>; <a href='B:470 23:31'>Mat 23:31</a>). Herein lies the crass folly and illogicality of sin. Jeremiah pleaded with Israel:"Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls [i:e. yourselves], to cut off from you man and woman:::that ye might cut yourselves off"(<a href='B:300 44:7-8'>Jer 44:7-8</a>, cp. how Jerusalem cut her own hair off in <a href='B:300 7:29'>Jer 7:29</a>). In the same passage, Yahweh is the one who does the cutting off (<a href='B:300 44:11'>Jer 44:11</a>); but they had cut themselves off. Likewise as they had kindled fire on their roofs in offering sacrifices to Baal, so Yahweh through the Babylonians would set fire to those same houses (<a href='B:300 32:29'>Jer 32:29</a>). Thus Israel were the ones who had kindled the fire ofYahweh’s condemnation (<a href='B:300 17:4'>Jer 17:4</a>).</h4>


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<h4>For Yahweh of Armies, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you- They were planted by God when they left Egypt and entered covenant with God (<a href='B:20 15:17'>Exo 15:17</a>; <a href='B:40 24:6'>Num 24:6</a>), and also when they entered Canaan and God cleared the land of the Canaanite tribes (<a href='B:230 44:2'>Psa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:230 80:8'>Psa 80:8</a>). Having done everything possible through their planting that they might produce fruit (<a href='B:290 5:2'>Isa 5:2</a>), it was appropriate for God to also destroy them when they failed to respond. Likewise we have been"planted"in a manner and position optimal for our spiritual fruitfulness; we cannot therefore blame our lack of spiritual fruit on bad environment.</h4><h4>Because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have worked for themselves in provoking Me to anger by offering incense to Baal- Judah were continually being reminded by Jeremiah that they were not better than the ten tribe kingdom of Israel, and would meet a similar destruction and exile as they had. They had both produced the judgment for themselves; sin is essentially a sin against ourselves as well as God.</h4>


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<p>Yahweh gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then You showed me their evil deeds- Jeremiah speaks here of how he came to see Israel for who they were; he realized their conspiracy against God, and also their conspiracy against himself. He was therefore underlined as really being God’s representative on earth, emotionally passing through similar experiences. Ezekiel was shown “what the house of Israel is doing in the dark” (<a href='B:330 8:12'>Eze 8:12</a>). To pass through human life with this level of sensitivity must’ve been so hard. Psychologically and nervously, the stress would’ve been awful. It seems to me that the prophets had to be somehow psychologically strengthened by God to endure living that sensitively in this crass and unfeeling world- hence God made Ezekiel and Jeremiah as a wall and “iron pillar” to Israel, hardened their faces, so that they wouldn’t be “dismayed at [the] looks” of those who watched them with anger and consternation (<a href='B:300 1:18'>Jer 1:18</a>; <a href='B:300 15:20'>Jer 15:20</a>; <a href='B:330 2:4-6'>Eze 2:4-6</a>; <a href='B:330 3:8-9'>Eze 3:8-9</a>; <a href='B:330 3:27'>Eze 3:27</a>). This psychological strengthening was not aimed at making them insensitive, but rather in strengthening them to live sensitively to sin in a sinful world without cracking up. And He will do the same for us, too.</p>


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<h4>But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter- On <a href='B:300 10:19'>Jer 10:19</a> we noted that Jeremiah alludes to the great Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 53, feeling himself the bearer of Israel’s griefs. He continues that allusion here, this time to <a href='B:290 53:7'>Isa 53:7</a>"a lamb to the slaughter". Jeremiah had naively believed they had good intentions, hence GNB"like a trusting lamb". His overly positive view of his people reflected that of God. For the conspiracy against Jeremiah was reflective of that which they had as it were made against Yahweh (:9):&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><p>And I didn’t know that they had devised devices against me saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit- LXX"Come and let us put wood into his bread", suggesting an attempt to poison him. But the destruction of a tree is the figure just used in :16 for the cutting down and burning of the tree of Israel. The idea may be that the tree of Israel was destroyed because of their plot to kill Jeremiah and thus nullify, as they thought, his words. The book of Jeremiah isn’t chronological. It may be that Jeremiah had earlier specifically been warned that his family were trying to kill him (<a href='B:300 12:6'>Jer 12:6</a>) but he ignored it. This would again be reflected in how Yahweh knew on one hand that His people were conspiring against Him (:9), and yet acted as if He didn’t know that, such was His love and hope for them.</p><h4>And let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered- This alludes to <a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a>, where the suffering servant is to be cut off out of the land of the living. See on :21. Jeremiah was attempting to be the sin bearer for Israel in the terms of Isaiah 53. Perhaps this is why many of the prophecies of judgment were ameliorated in their outworking. But their sin was such that his willingness was not enough to save them from condemnation. Or perhaps Jeremiah’s struggling spirit against God’s ways, which at times does appear in the record (e:g. <a href='B:300 12:1'>Jer 12:1</a>), meant that he was not righteous enough; hence the final fulfilment of Isaiah 53 in the Lord Jesus and not Jeremiah.</h4>


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<h4>But, Yahweh of Armies, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind- The’testing’ of Judah was to be through melting them in the furnace of Jerusalem, caused by the fire of Babylonian judgment (<a href='B:300 9:7'>Jer 9:7</a>; <a href='B:450 13:9'>Zec 13:9</a>). We learn here that the essential purpose of that was to try / test / purify / reveal their heart and mind; for that was and is of utterly paramount importance to God.</h4><p>I shall see Your vengeance on them- But when he did see this, he bitterly laments over it, in Lamentations. We must be careful what we ask for, lest we receive it. There is more information about Jeremiah’s feelings about his persecutors at <a href='B:300 20:10-12'>Jer 20:10-12</a>. The book of Jeremiah isn’t arranged chronologically, and it seems <a href='B:300 11:20'>Jer 11:20</a> refers to the same time as <a href='B:300 20:10-12'>Jer 20:10-12</a>.</p><h4>For to You have I opened up my cause- The fact God sees and knows all means that we might as well open our lives up before Him in prayer and meditation. Jeremiah"revealed my cause"before the Lord because he knew that God"tests the heart and the mind". This may be why men like Jeremiah were somewhat ’rough’ with God; whatever they felt about God, they told Him. They so knew that God knew their thoughts::. there was and is no point in saying fine words to God in prayer, whilst feeling harder about Him in ones heart.</h4>


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<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life saying, You shall not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, that you not die by our hand- The Lord may have alluded here in saying that a prophet always lacks honour amongst his own people (<a href='B:470 13:57'>Mat 13:57</a>). For as noted on :19, Jeremiah was clearly a type of the rejected Lord Jesus. If we enquire why they had such specific hatred for him, it was clearly because subconsciously they knew themselves to be indeed worthy of death as Jeremiah had been saying. And so they projected their sin onto the innocent, and wished to then punish him with the punishment they knew they themselves deserved. This is why those who secretly commit adultery are often eager to judge and punish others in the church who commit adultery. It’s not simply hypocrisy; it’s all the same story of psychological transference- of their own sin and desert of punishment onto another.</p>


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<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine- This specifically speaks of the people of Anathoth (:21). The children died not because they were punished for the parents’ sins, but because sin has collateral damage. That is part of what sin is; the results of it affect others who did not commit that sin.</p>


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<p>And there shall be no remnant to them: for I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation- But by grace there was a remnant left to Judah. God here speaks in the fire of His wrath, but in wrath remembers mercy; although it could be that Anathoth being on the great north road, directly in the line of the Babylonian advance, was indeed totally liquidated and left with no remnant.</p>


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<p>You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with You; yet I would reason the cause with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously?- This is a parade example of how we should approach issues relating to the justice of God; beginning with the simple recognition that Yahweh is righteous, even if we don’t understand. This prophecy appears to have been at the time of Josiah, when Judah were still relatively at ease and prospering, despite Josiah’s reforms not having been deeply responded to.</p>


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<h4>You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit- This planting is that of <a href='B:300 11:17'>Jer 11:17</a>. They were planted by God when they left Egypt and entered covenant with God (<a href='B:20 15:17'>Exo 15:17</a>; <a href='B:40 24:6'>Num 24:6</a>), and also when they entered Canaan and God cleared the land of the Canaanite tribes (<a href='B:230 44:2'>Psa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:230 80:8'>Psa 80:8</a>). Having done everything possible through their planting that they might produce fruit (<a href='B:290 5:2'>Isa 5:2</a>), it was appropriate for God to also destroy them when they failed to respond. Likewise we have been"planted"in a manner and position optimal for our spiritual fruitfulness; we cannot therefore blame our lack of spiritual fruit on bad environment.</h4><h4>You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart- This can be translated as them saying"You are near"with their mouths, when in fact they were far from God in their heart. This statement"You are near"was based on the much loved <a href='B:50 4:7'>Deu 4:7</a>, which states that no God has Israel so"near"them (s:w:). Indeed Yahweh was near them- but they had to come near to Him in their hearts. He was"near"in that His word was to be near in their hearts and not far off from their hearts (<a href='B:50 30:11'>Deu 30:11</a>; <a href='B:50 30:14'>Deu 30:14</a> s:w:), but they were refusing His word through Jeremiah. The nearness of God is therefore potential, for man in response must also draw near unto Him (<a href='B:330 42:13'>Eze 42:13</a>; <a href='B:330 43:19'>Eze 43:19</a> s:w:). But the grace of God was such that He would save them even from"far off"(<a href='B:300 30:10'>Jer 30:10</a> s:w:). See on <a href='B:300 23:23'>Jer 23:23</a>. Even from that situation, God’s grace could work on their hearts. They were taken"far [off]"to captivity because they had Him far from their hearts.</h4>


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<p>But You, Yahweh, know me; You see me, and try my heart towards You: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter- This is just how Jeremiah describes himself, a lamb for the slaughter, in <a href='B:300 11:19'>Jer 11:19</a>. There he was alluding to the prophecy of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53. But the significance is that they were the condemned lamb for the slaughter, and the state of Jeremiah’s heart was different; he was not for the slaughter. But he willingly identified with Israel’s sin and condemnation whilst being personally sinless in this matter- a fine type of the Lord’s representative sufferings and sin bearing for us on the cross.</p>


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<h4>How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds- And yet the wicked people of :1 apparently prospered. So we may be reading the present tense spoken of as the future. And yet actually all animals weren’t consumed from off the land. In wrath God remembered mercy, by His amazing grace. See on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>.</h4><h4>Because they said, He shall not see our latter end- They said this in their hearts; they psychologically assumed that God did not"see"their behaviour nor foresee a final judgment for them.</h4>


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<p>If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? and though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the swelling of the Jordan?- The land was not in peace at the time of many of Jeremiah’s prophecies, and so this must be an earlier prophecy. The book of Jeremiah isn’t chronological. The prediction that his own family would seek to kill him (:6) was therefore made early in his ministry, but he apparently disbelieved this word (<a href='B:300 11:19'>Jer 11:19</a>). The idea was that the Jordan was going to swell up, rather than be under their control as it was when they first entered Canaan. The previous incursions of the Babylonians were as foot soldiers compared to the cavalry which were to pour into the land. This is God’s response to Jeremiah’s apparent complaint in :4 that the judgments were too severe. He is at this point personally out of step with God’s judgment program; and so God reminds him that his very own family were intending to kill him (:6). Jeremiah had an overly positive view of Israel, but he was also even in that reflecting God’s love and imputation of righteousness to His wayward people.</p>


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<p>For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; even they have cried aloud after you: don’t believe them, though they speak beautiful words to you- See on :5; <a href='B:300 11:19'>Jer 11:19</a>. Jeremiah was sharing God’s experiences with His people, who had dealt treacherously with Him too (s:w. <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>; <a href='B:300 3:8'>Jer 3:8</a>; <a href='B:300 3:11'>Jer 3:11</a>; <a href='B:300 5:11'>Jer 5:11</a>; <a href='B:300 9:2'>Jer 9:2</a>), as Jeremiah himself recognized (:1). To Jeremiah’s face they were nicely spoken, but behind his back they cried for his blood. Likewise with their God, they had Him on their lips but their hearts were far from Him (:2):&nbsp;</p>


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<p>I have forsaken My house, I have cast off My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies- This and the following verses are God’s response as to how He would respond to the treachery of His own people. But this :7 may be Jeremiah’s response, which (as often in Jeremiah) merges into the feelings of God too and then God becomes the dominant thinker and speaker rather than Jeremiah. In this case, Jeremiah would be responding that he had dissociated himself from his family, and had resigned his dearly beloved, perhaps his wife, to destruction because she too refused to respond to his message. Yahweh ’cast off’ Judah (<a href='B:300 12:7'>Jer 12:7</a>; <a href='B:300 23:33'>Jer 23:33</a>) but only because they had cast Him off (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a> s:w:). And yet God did not cast off His people (<a href='B:300 33:26'>Jer 33:26</a>); Jeremiah personally was persuaded that God would not cast off His people for ever (<a href='B:310 3:31'>Lam 3:31</a>). He will show them mercy as if He had not cast them off (<a href='B:450 10:6'>Zec 10:6</a>); this reversal of their casting off was to be through the repentance of the exiled community (<a href='B:30 26:44'>Lev 26:44</a>). But even this didn’t happen, and yet God still did not cast them away (<a href='B:520 11:2'>Rom 11:2</a>). His love and grace was such that He holds on to them. This desperate holding on to His people is seen in the experience of every person who joins God’s people through baptism into Christ. They may indeed be cast off ultimately, but that is because they cast Him off, and wrestled against His insistent desire to keep hold of them eternally.</p>


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<h4>My heritage has become to Me as a lion in the forest: she has uttered her voice against Me- It was appropriate therefore that her invaders would be as lions, uttering their voice against her; for this was how they had treated God. Judgment is but an extension of how we ourselves have acted.</h4><h4>Therefore I have hated her- A love as strong as God’s is going to also elicit the emotion of hatred and anger when that love is rejected and abused. He"hated"(s:w:) Judah’s insincere worship and relationship with Him (<a href='B:290 1:14'>Isa 1:14</a>; <a href='B:290 61:8'>Isa 61:8</a>; <a href='B:300 44:4'>Jer 44:4</a>). But it is hard to separate the sin from the sinner. That distinction may be helpful for us in order to avoid judging others too personally, but God it seems doesn’t make that decision. He gave Israel into the hands of those who hated her (s:w. <a href='B:330 16:27'>Eze 16:27</a>; <a href='B:330 16:37'>Eze 16:37</a>) and in that sense He hated her. The feelings of hatred which Hosea had for Gomer due to her abuse of His love were those of God for Israel:"There I hated them"(<a href='B:350 9:15'>Hos 9:15</a>). God is not simply"love"in the abstract. He is love for real, with all the emotion and psychological complex which goes along with love; and this will include hatred if that love is abused.</h4>


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<h4>Is My heritage- To lose an inheritance was a major tragedy in the thought of those times. God was losing His inheritance in that He was allowing it to be consumed, ’polluting it’ (<a href='B:290 47:6'>Isa 47:6</a>). No man would ever spoil his own inheritance like this; but God did, such was His belief in the need to punish His people for their sins. And yet the metaphor of lost / spoilt inheritance reflects how painful this was for God, felt as a personal loss. The whole idea elicits sympathy for God in this tragic loss. See on :10.</h4><h4>To Me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field, bring them to devour- The rhetorical question was because this situation need not be, if Judah repented. As it was, God’s people were like a different coloured bird which attracted the aggression of the other birds. It then is brought to the ground and the animals come to devour it. There was something perceived as different about Judah, the root of all anti-Jewish sentiment down the centuries. And this attracted others to attack that which was different. But the difference was not in their spirituality; it was perhaps in their manic desire to be like other nations. Israel was"speckled"or dyed with multiple different colours, like pagan idol worshipping clothes (s:w. <a href='B:70 5:30'>Jdg 5:30</a>). The anger of the nations with Judah was that she had made covenants of unique loyalty with each of them, on the agreement that Judah would worship their gods. And now they discovered she had made such agreements with them all, and the Jerusalem temple was full of the idols of the various nations. This was the basis for their combined anger with her. See on :12.</h4>


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<p>Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion under foot, they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness- At this time, Judah was still prosperous (see on :1). The past tenses indicate that what God threatened He was now going to fulfil, and it was as good as done. The vineyard of Israel had been carefully planted and prepared by God (Isaiah 5). For God to allow His own vineyard to be destroyed was therefore a huge personal loss to Him. See on :9,11.</p>


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<p>They have made it a desolation; it mourns to Me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart- The desolation of the land is not specifically predicated upon idolatry, but upon not laying things to heart; a light hearted, not serious attitude to the things of God. This was of paramount pain and significance to God, and it remains so to this day. That the land should be desolate was a personal tragedy to God (s:w. <a href='B:20 23:29'>Exo 23:29</a>); as noted on :9,10, God’s judgment of His people was at huge personal loss to Himself.</p>


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<p>Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace- And yet at the time of the prophecy, perhaps still in Josiah’s time, the land was in peace (:5). The present tense is used for the future, so certain was it of fulfilment. The"destroyers"are the invaders, and yet it was the shepherds of Israel who are the destroyers in :10. Jeremiahwas from the priestly family, and perhaps their hatred for him (:6) was because of his criticism of them. The high places, where Judah thought they could secretly worship idols, were going to be destroyed; it was Judah’s promiscuous relationship with multiple nations and idols which provoked the anger of the invaders. See on :9.</p>


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<h4>They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns- The Lord may have had His eye on this in constructing the parable of <a href='B:470 13:27'>Mat 13:27</a>. The wheat sown didn’t produce wheat because an enemy sowed thorns amongst the wheat which eclipsed the wheat. So the idea is that although they sowed wheat, they had also sown thorns, and these had eclipsed what apparent spirituality they had. Only a wholehearted devotion to God can succeed in spiritual life.</h4><h4>They have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Yahweh- Although they had been given materially all that they needed on entering the land (<a href='B:300 2:7'>Jer 2:7</a>), the attraction of the idols was"profit". The idols of Canaan were fertility cults, and they were worshipped in the hope of good harvests and material benefits or"profit". They worshipped them with the"pain"of offering their firstborn to them. But the same word is used of the grief or pain which the representative Saviour would experience for them (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>), bearing every aspect of their condemnation. So Yahweh’s blessing of His people materially only elicited in them a craving for yet more materialism, and they turned to the idols- which in reality did not"profit", for all such blessing is only from Yahweh. In the day of condemnation, they would look at the few"fruits"they thought they had gained due to idol worship, and be ashamed that they sought them at the expense of eternity. And so it shall be for all materialists in that day.</h4>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh against all My evil neighbours- Even in the midst of condemning His people, God closely identifies with them, speaking here of the surrounding nations as"My neighbours". This is typical of the prophetic revelations of condemnation.</h4><p>Who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit- Whoever touches Israel touches the apple of God’s eye, such is His extreme sensitivity towards His people even when they are under condemnation (<a href='B:450 2:8'>Zec 2:8</a>).</p><h4>Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them- Potentially, there was huge Divine power available to those who repented in exile and wanted to return. The decree of Cyrus is evidence enough. But the majority preferred the soft life of Babylon. We too are commanded to come out from Babylon, and if we even nod a"yes"toward that, we will be hugely confirmed in it.</h4>


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<h4>It shall happen, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his inheritance, and every man to his land- This implies that those taken captive would themselves return. The exact duration of the exile was always an open question. Ezekiel was asked to prophecy that Judah would suffer for their sins for 40 years (<a href='B:330 4:6'>Eze 4:6</a>). Perhaps something could’ve happened after 40 years::. And then, the starting point of the 70 or 40 years was somewhat flexible- for <a href='B:330 22:3-4'>Eze 22:3-4</a> records Ezekiel’s prophecy that the desolation of Jerusalem by the Babylonians [the starting point of the time periods] was actually being hastened, brought forward, by the terrible behaviour of the Jews living there after the initial Babylon invasion of the land. Closer study reveals the variableness of outworking of the time periods. <a href='B:300 25:11-12'>Jer 25:11-12</a> and <a href='B:300 29:10'>Jer 29:10</a> speak of a 70 year period of Babylonian rule over Judah, beginning with the invasion of BC597. But Babylon only ruled over Judah for 49 years, before Babylon fell to the Persians. This would connect with the way that <a href='B:450 4:3'>Zec 4:3</a> speaks of 7 menorah candlesticks each with 7 lamps, making 49 lamps. 49 is the cycle of 7 Sabbath years that culminated in the jubilee year, and the jubilee year, the proclamation of liberty to the land (<a href='B:30 25:8-12'>Lev 25:8-12</a>; <a href='B:30 27:7-24'>Lev 27:7-24</a>) is a figure used so often in Isaiah to describe the freedom of Judah once released from Babylon. <a href='B:30 26:34'>Lev 26:34</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a> speak of the land enjoying her Sabbaths whilst Israel were in exile for their sins- i:e. for 49 years. So it seems that there could have been some restoration after 49 years- but it didn’t happen. But <a href='B:340 9:2'>Dan 9:2</a> and <a href='B:140 36:21'>2Ch 36:21</a> seem to reinterpret those 70 years of Jeremiah’s prophecies as speaking of a 70 year period during which Jerusalem and the temple would be desolate. See on <a href='B:330 6:8'>Eze 6:8</a>.</h4><h4>But the people in view (and this depends upon translation) could refer to the Gentile invaders. It was God’s intention that they should return to their own lands experiencing God’s compassion. But the Jews mixed with the people of the land, they didn’t teach themthe Name, and so the prophecy didn’t come true- they weren’t built up in the midst of Israel as intended (:16). Prophecies like <a href='B:290 19:18'>Isa 19:18</a>; <a href='B:290 19:24'>Isa 19:24</a> were thereby disabled from fulfilment at that time- “In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that… swear to the Lord… in that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria”. <a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a>, <a href='B:450 8:21-23'>Zec 8:21-23</a> etc. speak of how Gentile nations would desire to learn the ways of God and come up to a temple in Zion for this purpose. Could it not be that these passages are to be read in the context of <a href='B:300 12:14-17'>Jer 12:14-17</a> - that all this was only possible if at the time of the restoration the nations had learnt God’s ways from the Jews? In this case these passages are not to be taken as ‘proof’ that there has to be a future temple built in Zion:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4>


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<p>It shall happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, As Yahweh lives; even as they taught My people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of My people- See on :15. The if…then construction in :15-17 is clearly conditional: the Gentiles could have come and dwelt in the land in a Kingdom-like situation, if Judah had taught them, and if they had responded."The ways of My people"were by implication the ways of Yahweh. If Judah been obedient, then they would have been a witness to the nations where they were carried captive, and they too would have repented, become Jews, and been"built up in the midst of My people",&nbsp; incorporated into God’s revived, refined Israel. The future building up of a replanted Israel in their land would have meant their building up too (s:w. <a href='B:300 24:6'>Jer 24:6</a>; <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 33:7'>Jer 33:7</a>). But so much potential was wasted because of the lack of human repentance.</p>


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<p>But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says Yahweh- This sounds like the total end of Israel as a nation. But that didn’t happen, even though they did not hear. They were not plucked up and destroyed. God did not cast away His people (<a href='B:520 11:2'>Rom 11:2</a>). The God whose love is so strong that He even doesn’t carry out the judgments He threatens::. is a God of love and grace to the ultimate term. If the impoverished remnant who remained in the land had been obedient, then they would not have been plucked up (<a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>). They were not obedient, and yet still God preserved His people.</p>


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<p>Thus said Yahweh to me, Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don’t put it in water- The belt represented Israel (:11); being unwashed perhaps speaks of their lack of spiritual cleansing and uncleanness. He had to"buy"it as Yahweh had redeemed or bought Israel out of Egypt. Linen, not woollen, garments were appointed for priestly wear; the idea is that all Israel were to be a nation of priests, a light to the Gentiles. Or maybe the command not to wash it is just so that it would cleave to Jeremiah over time, representing the intimacy and close connection intended between God and Israel.</p>


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<p>So I bought a belt according to the word of Yahweh, and put it on my waist- There is an Arabic saying that a man’s people cling to him as a man’s belt. That seems to be the idea in view in this acted parable.</p>


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<p>The word of Yahweh came to me the second time saying- This was some time after Jeremiah had been wearing the belt every day; see on :2.</p>


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<p>Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock- The removal of the belt meant that God was severing His special relationship with His people, whom He considered intimately part of Him; see on :2. The hiding in the rock represented how Judah would be in captivity. It’s not clear whether Jeremiah literally made this journey. If he did, it would have been a major undertaking, and all would have known about it. However, if an actual visit to the Euphrates is meant, the part referred to “cannot be anywhere near Babylon, where there are no ‘rocks,’ or rather ‘crags’—but in the upper part of its course, above Carchemish, or even above Samosata, where it still flows between rocky sides”. Hiding in a cleft of the rock recalls Moses; he did so in order to see the glory of Yahweh. There is a similar idea in <a href='B:290 2:10'>Isa 2:10</a>. The implication was that through this experience, the bringing down ofall human pride, then the glory of Yahweh would be revealed at the restoration, as it was to Moses. And that is very much the language of Ezekiel’s cherubim visions which were given around this time.</p>


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<p>So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me- The Lord Jesus spoke a parable about a man who buried his talent (the Truth he had received at baptism) in the earth, and then when he was condemned at the judgment, this man thinks he’s being treated unfairly. This story was quarried from <a href='B:300 13:5-10'>Jer 13:5-10</a>, where God tells Jeremiah to take a belt and bury it. It becomes spoilt and useless. This buried belt, according to God’s own interpretation, represents those of His people"which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart". It was this which destroyed them, making them spiritually rot and decay until they were of no use. The Lord Jesus seems to foresee in His parable those who would accept His Truth, but bury it in the ground, effectively forgetting the love of His word, and yet assuming that simply because they possess the Truth they ought therefore to be in the Kingdom.</p>


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<p>It happened after many days that Yahweh said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there- The taking of the belt spoke of God’s taking of His people out of captivity once their pride had been destroyed (:9). If indeed Jeremiah made the literal journey to the Euphrates, then it would have appeared a huge effort in order to teach a simple lesson about God’s hatred of pride. But that was the point. All this was to prove that God hates pride and will go to any extreme length in order to remove it from His people. See on :9.</p>


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<p>Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was ruined, it was unfit for use- Ezekiel taught the same lesson in likening Judah to a vine branch which had been burnt at the hands of the Babylonians, and was therefore unfit for use (<a href='B:330 15:2-4'>Eze 15:2-4</a>). We assume that Jeremiah was to wear the useless belt on the long journey back to Judah. Losing our pride (:9) means recognizing we cannot do any work for the Lord, in the sense that all human achievement is nothing; and yet He still wears us, He uses us, He identifies with us. The Hebrew for"dig"also means to search out; God would search out His scattered, humbled people and return them to His land (s:w. <a href='B:50 1:22'>Deu 1:22</a>; <a href='B:60 2:2'>Jos 2:2</a>)."Ruined"is the word for ’destroyed’ in :14 and often. They would be destroyed in the sense that their pride would be destroyed (:9). This was the positive outcome of ’rotting away’ in exile (<a href='B:30 26:39'>Lev 26:39</a> NET).</p>


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<p>Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying- The whole point of Judah’s exile in Babylon was to make them"ruined, unfit for use"like the cloth which Jeremiah buried by Euphrates (<a href='B:300 13:7'>Jer 13:7</a>). And yet the second half of Isaiah is full of expressions of God’s desire to use Israel after their experience in Babylon as His witness to the nations. Israel’s preparation for their mission was through being made"unfit for use". And so God prepares His missionaries and ambassadors today likewise.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh, In this way I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem- See on :6. It was pride in the heart which was the essential problem; all the idolatry and immorality flowed from that. And this is the abiding lesson for us. As noted on :7, God would ruin or destroy His people in the sense of destroying their pride. This was the intention of the captivity; and only then could God bring them back to Judah attached to Him, just as Jeremiah returned with the useless belt. It is not specifically stated that he returned with the belt because it was an open question as to whether the exiles would shed their pride. The reality is that they didn’t, yet by pure grace God still tried to bring them back; such was and is His desire to as it were fore through His saving purpose with people.</p>


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<h4>This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them- The choice was between walking after God’s word, or walking after their own hearts. This is where God’s word is not like any other literature. It is to take a grip upon the human heart and to inculcate a way of thought which is contrary to our own natural heart or thinking. This points up the danger of using the Bible simply to reinforce our own natural ideas, whilst disregarding the rest."Stubbornness"also can mean"imagination". <a href='B:50 29:19'>Deu 29:19</a> speaks directly of Judah at this time- when they heard the words of the curses for disobedience, they would think they would still have peace because they walked in the imaginations [s:w."stubbornness"] of their own hearts. The false prophets were preaching exactly such"peace"(<a href='B:300 6:14'>Jer 6:14</a>; <a href='B:300 8:11'>Jer 8:11</a>). The heart [mind] is a fountain of imagination, of fantasy, and it is this which can be redirected by the influence of God’s word and Spirit upon the human heart. But the sense of"stubbornness"in the Hebrew word for"imagination"shows that by exercising our own imaginations without the influence of God’s word, we become set in those ways of thought, until they come to define us.</h4><h4>Shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing- Jeremiah’s parable of the girdle demonstrated that the Jews would not"prosper"(<a href='B:300 13:7'>Jer 13:7</a>; <a href='B:300 13:10'>Jer 13:10</a>) even when taken into captivity at the Euphrates (i:e. Babylon), using the same word as in the parable of the vine in <a href='B:330 17:9'>Eze 17:9</a>. Babylon, according to <a href='B:330 17:8'>Eze 17:8</a>, was potentially fruitful soil for their spiritual revival. But they would not"prosper", Jeremiah says, because of their deep seated love of idolatry and lack of true repentance.</h4>


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<p>For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so have I caused to cling to Me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says Yahweh; that they may be to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear- There is an Arabic saying that a man’s people cling to him as a man’s belt. That seems to be the idea in view in this acted parable. God caused His people to cling to Him, perhaps referring to marriage (s:w. <a href='B:10 2:24'>Gen 2:24</a>); and yet their pride meant that they refused it. This speaks of the psychological work of God to cause His people to cling to Him, which is likewise ongoing today. We note that Israel and Judah are mentioned together; the idea was that the restoration would unite both nations through the common experience of being humbled and repenting. The two nations would return to the land and this become God’s singular people. This was God’s intention from the start, but it was their pride (:9) which caused them not to"hear".</p>


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<p>Therefore you shall speak to them this word: Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall tell you, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?- This continues the theme of the earlier parable of the belt, which had to be marred before it would be useless enough for God to use. This spoke of how Judah would lose their pride in Babylon (:9), or that was the intention."Bottle"here of course means not a glass bottle but a bag or wine skin; but the Hebrew word essentially means that which is deflated, alluding to how wine skins deflated. It is used of the"fading"of human pride in Judah (<a href='B:290 28:1'>Isa 28:1</a>; <a href='B:290 28:4'>Isa 28:4</a>; <a href='B:290 40:7-8'>Isa 40:7-8</a>; <a href='B:290 64:6'>Isa 64:6</a>). This is the continuation of theme with the fading pride of :9. Those humbled skins could have been filled with the wine of the new covenant; but they were to be filled with the wine of judgment (:13). To be given wine from Yahweh is a double symbol; either of condemnation, as happened later to Babylon as well (<a href='B:290 51:23'>Isa 51:23</a>; <a href='B:300 25:15'>Jer 25:15</a>); or of blessing (<a href='B:530 10:16'>1Co 10:16</a>). They of course chose to understand it as the symbol of blessing, saying that of course they knew the skins were to be filled with wine. But the wine was in fact to be a symbol of judgment (:13). This double symbol explains how the communion service can bring us up sharp before the two options in our destiny- to drink to our condemnation, or to our eternal blessing. This is why self examination is naturally elicited by it.</p>


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<p>Then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness- The royal family and leadership are bracketed along with"all the inhabitants of the land". Leadership does what the masses want; leaders exercise the natural human tendency to quickly perceive what the other wishes to hear and to say and do it. This is what had happened in Judah. The"people love to have it so", and therefore the priests and prophets said what the people wanted to hear (<a href='B:300 5:31'>Jer 5:31</a>). This is why all society was to be punished. The wine of the covenant was to become the drunkenness of condemnation for them.</p>


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<p>I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says Yahweh: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them- See on :24. They would&nbsp; be a source of mutual destruction. we bite and devour each other, we may be consumed by each other (<a href='B:550 5:15'>Gal 5:15</a>)- this is the same idea of brethren killing brethren. Israel were condemned to destruction by brother being dashed against brother (<a href='B:300 13:14'>Jer 13:14</a>). Indeed, biting and devouring each other is a quotation from <a href='B:290 9:19-20'>Isa 9:19-20</a> LXX (although not apparent in the AV), where Israel in their judgment for unfaithfulness would bite and devour each others’ bodies in the siege. Paul is saying that if we bite and devour each other with our words (and we are all guilty of this at times), we are acting as the condemned. If we do this, we may well be consumed of each other- and this may have a terribly literal fulfilment, in that as the world destroys every man his neighbour in the confusion of the last day, so the rejected may do the same, living out the bigotry and passive anger they felt towards each other in their ecclesial life. This all needs some meditation. For there are very few of us not caught up in some division, personality clash, biting or devouring.</p>


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<p>Hear, and give ear; don’t be proud; for Yahweh has spoken- Jeremiah had just made a journey to Euphrates and back as part of an acted parable appealing for humility (:9). And so he now begs them not to beproud; but rather to be humble before God’s word. God has spoken, and that itself is the imperative to not be proud. We can hear the Bible explained and at that point understand intellectually. But this is something different to real understanding; for if we truly apprehend the message, we will receive it deep within us and keep that understanding ever present in our subsequent actions. We are to hear&nbsp;and give ear to God’s word. We can hear on a surface level, but not give the ear of our heart to God’s voice.</p>


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<p>Give glory to Yahweh your God, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness- The land was to return to its state before creation, covered with gross darkness. But even in this language of judgment there is hope of new creation, through the movement of the Spirit. Giving glory to God to avoid this meant being humble (:9,15). This is the great paradox- that our humility and repentance exalts God.</p>


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<p>But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock is taken captive- This continues Jeremiah’s desperate plea for humility (:16). He uses the present tense"is taken captive"although it was yet future, because so certain was the condemnation for pride. And yet they were to go into captivity even then as"Yahweh’s flock", they were still His. The fact others reject our message ought likewise to pain us at the very core and heart of our beings. Perhaps here we have a private soliloquy of Jeremiah. He would hide away and weep for them, and nobody would ever know. His grief was to be deeply personal (“my soul shall weep”) and unperceived by others (“in secret places”). And I challenge us, each one: have we ever done this, or even come near it, in our frustration with those who reject our message? Jeremiah wept. He didn’t “…not care a rush”. For all the issues which the prophets could have condemned people for, pride was high on their list. “I abhor the pride of Jacob”, Amos cried out in dismay (<a href='B:370 6:8'>Amo 6:8</a>). Jeremiah here weeps in secret, his eyes running with tears, “for your pride”. Isaiah gets passionate about the way that Assyria thought that “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom” (<a href='B:290 10:13'>Isa 10:13</a>). Because Ephraim trusted in his wealth, the most awful words of judgment are pronounced upon him (<a href='B:350 12:8'>Hos 12:8</a>; <a href='B:350 10:13-14'>Hos 10:13-14</a>). We shrug when we see pride and trust in wealth. Rich or poor, we all tend to trust in money. Thinking that that’s life… under the sun. But the prophets went ballistic about this. We’ve developed established patterns of indifference to this kind of thing. But the prophet’s consciences were keenly sensitive to these patterns, and they openly challenged them. They weren’t just empty moralizers, bleating on about the state of the nation; their words are an assault of the mind and conscience.</p>


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<h4>Say to the king and to the queen mother- This could refer to &nbsp;Jehoiakim and the queen-mother Zebidah (<a href='B:120 23:36'>2Ki 23:36</a>). But more likely it refers to the three months’ reign of his successor, Jehoiachin, whose mother, Nehushta, is referred to in <a href='B:120 24:8'>2Ki 24:8</a>; <a href='B:120 24:12'>2Ki 24:12</a>; <a href='B:120 24:15'>2Ki 24:15</a>. The mother is mentioned because Jehoiachin was so young (cp. <a href='B:300 22:26'>Jer 22:26</a>).</h4><h4>Humble yourselves, sit down; for your headdresses have come down, even the crown of your glory- Come down is the idea of humbling. The pride of man will be humbled by Yahweh; if we refuse to humble ourselves, then God’s condemnation of us in the day of judgment will humble us. Therefore it is logical to humble ourselves now. LXX gives:"come down from your head is your beautiful crown". We noted on :1 that all Israel were intended to be a nation of priests and even God’s High Priest for the surrounding nations. But they were to now lose that possibility. Perhaps Jeremiah is even asking them to resign from the throne in recognition of their corruption, so that the line of David might be restored in the restored Kingdom which was then potentially possible.</h4>


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<p>The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them: Judah is carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive- LXX"Complete removal". But this didn’t happen to this extent; see on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>. Perhaps at this point the Babylonian advance had already surrounded the southern cities, and the captivity of the people was as good as done, hence the use of the present tense about something yet future. Therewas none to open the besieged, shut up cities; because the power of Egypt upon whom they hoped had been broken; see on :19. This is why"the cities of the south"are mentioned, for being nearer to Egypt, they had particularly hoped upon Egyptian help.</p>


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<p>Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?- The flock which disappeared may refer to how the army of Egypt, upon whom Judah (LXX mentions"Jerusalem"specifically here) had trusted for defence against Babylon"from the north", was destroyed at the battle of Carchemish (BC 605). This may have just happened when Jeremiah said this. This was why there was now nobody to open the cities which were closed up because of the siege; the Egyptians were not going to lift the siege (:19).</p>


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<h4>What will you say, when He shall punish you?-"Punish"translates two words, ’to be overseer over’. The allusion is to their bondage in Egypt, to which they were to effectively return in Babylonian captivity.</h4><p>You have provoked them to be captains and rulers over you- The"them"are the northern invaders seen in :20."Captains and rulers"sounds like Israel’s slavery in Egypt. They were to as it were return to Egypt (<a href='B:350 8:13'>Hos 8:13</a>; <a href='B:350 9:3'>Hos 9:3</a>). This is why the language of the restoration prophecies, especially in later Isaiah, allude to the exodus from Egypt. Judah had done what their fathers had done- returned in their hearts to Egypt. They therefore as it were appointed the invaders as their captains and rulers over them.</p><h4>Shall not sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?- Although this a metaphor for judgment, it includes the hope that new birth was to come out of all these sufferings. Always God had in view His hope for the rebirth of His people.</h4>


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<h4>If you say in your heart, Why are these things come on me?- Ezekiel addresses this same complaint in Ezekiel 18, that the judgments are unjust. God’s response is simply to remind them of how terribly they are to be judged- and that ought to elicit within their own consciences an awareness of what they had done to deserve this. The level of shameless self-justification is extreme; so extreme that we reflect it could only have arisen from allowing themselves to be utterly convinced that they were serving Yahweh through serving the idols, and that the words of the false prophets were those of God. But this utter conviction was not simply a case of intellectual failure or being mislead by their teachers. It had a strong moral basis to it; in that they were believing what they wanted t believe, in order to justify their lusts.</h4><h4>For the greatness of your iniquity are your skirts lifted up, and your private parts suffer violence- Her lovers, those she had depended upon, would become her enemies and destroyers (<a href='B:330 23:22'>Eze 23:22</a>). The metaphors used to describe the anger of God with Israel are pretty awful. Her children to be slain with thirst, she was to be stripped naked by her husband (Hosea 2), gang raped by her lovers, having her nose cut off and left a battered, bleeding mess in the scrubland (Ezekiel 16, 23), to have her skirt pulled up over her head and her nakedness revealed (<a href='B:300 13:20-27'>Jer 13:20-27</a>), wishing to pluck off her own breasts for shame (<a href='B:330 23:34'>Eze 23:34</a>). Jerusalem is to be raped, violated and humiliated, according to Ezekiel. Indeed, Ezekiel’s images verge at times on what some would consider pornographic. He speaks of the woman Israel’s pubic hair, breasts, menstrual cycle (<a href='B:330 16:7'>Eze 16:7</a>; <a href='B:330 16:10'>Eze 16:10</a>); the gang rape by her enemies which God would bring about, leaving her mutilated and humiliated (<a href='B:330 16:37'>Eze 16:37</a>; <a href='B:330 23:22-49'>Eze 23:22-49</a>); about the size of her lovers’ sexual organs and coital emissions, and how she let them fondle her breasts (<a href='B:330 23:8'>Eze 23:8</a>; <a href='B:330 23:20'>Eze 23:20</a>). This is shocking language, which perhaps we skip over in our Bible reading from sheer embarrassment- and we are modern readers brutalized by exposure to this kind of stuff in the media. For early Israel, it would all have been even more shocking. It all seemed out of proportion to having ‘merely’ made a few political alliances with Egypt and Assyria. Was that really like a wife letting other men fondle her breasts and have sex with her, admiring their bodies as she did so? Did it all have to end in such brutality and vulgarity? Today, sex and violence are what attract attention. From lyrics of songs to advertising and movies, that’s clear enough. And the prophets are using the same tactics to arrest Israel’s attention, all the more so because nudity and sex were things simply not up for public discussion. There’s an anxiety which any talk about sex seems to arouse in us, and it was the prophets’ intention to make us likewise get on the edge of our seats, anxious, rapt, sensitive for the next word… realizing that really and truly, this is what human sin does to God. The outrageous sex talk was to bring out how outrageous and obscene are our sins and unfaithfulness to the covenant we cut with God in baptism.</h4>


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<p>Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil- This is in response to their question in :22, as to why they were being punished. No specific sin is listed, but rather the complaint is that they had become psychologically dominated by their ways and habitual ("accustomed") paths of thought. Once habit solidifies, it becomeseffectively part of our nature and almost impossible to change, at least in human strength. The Hebrew translated “accustomed” carries the idea of repeated habit. The Hebrew idea of ‘teaching’ is connected to the words for ‘habit’ or ‘custom’; because teaching was by repetition. The Lord Jesus “morning by morning” heard God’s word “as the learned” (<a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a>); but the Hebrew words for “accustomed” in <a href='B:300 13:23'>Jer 13:23</a> and “learned” in <a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a> are the same. God teaches by repetition- which may be out of vogue in the experience / problem based learning philosophy of current education, but it’s God’s way.</p>


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<h4>Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness- The"stubble"doesn’t refer to what is left in the ground after harvest. Here it refers to the broken straw which had to be separated from the wheat after the corn had been trampled out by the oxen. Sometimes it was burnt as useless; at other times left to be blown away by the wind coming from the desert. The idea is that whatever was left after the trampling of the Babylonians, even that would be blown away by the wind out of the land and into captivity. But by grace this didn’t happen, because the poor of the land, the majority, were left there. See on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>.</h4><h4><a href='B:340 2:44'>Dan 2:44</a> describes how the kingdoms of this world will be broken and scattered as the chaff before the wind. Yet this is exactly the language of <a href='B:300 13:24'>Jer 13:24</a> concerning Israel’s latter destruction. They will be"dashed"(<a href='B:300 13:14'>Jer 13:14</a>) as the nations of the world will be (<a href='B:230 2:9'>Psa 2:9</a>). The same verse says they will be destroyed by brother being dashed against brother- again, the picture of the world’s final destruction (<a href='B:450 14:13'>Zec 14:13</a>). <a href='B:730 2:27'>Rev 2:27</a> speaks of the unfaithful in the ecclesia likewise being dashed to pieces. The Lord’s coming will be a stone that grinds them to powder (<a href='B:470 21:44'>Mat 21:44</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>This is your lot, the portion measured to you from Me, says Yahweh; because you have forgotten Me, and trusted in falsehood- The portion of the wine of judgment was justly measured and it lead to the drunkenness of condemnation. But as noted on :24, even that just measure was ameliorated by the grace of a God whose justice incorporates grace. But the judgment measured,"this::. your lot", could refer to the mind-set of :24. God confirmed them in their path of rebellious thinking. <a href='B:520 1:28'>Rom 1:28</a> states this clearly- God gives a"reprobate mind"to those who wish to think in that way. He confirms us by His Spirit, working directly on our hearts, in the way we choose to go and be.</p>


text:
<h4>Therefore will I also lift your skirts up above your face- The shocking sexual language and imagery of the prophets was in order to help Israel see that this was how far they had outraged God; see on :22. It was and is a rhetoric that cannot be forgotten, shrugged off, re-interpreted. The rhetoric pushes relentlessly for a response in our consciences (See Phyllis Trible, God And The Rhetoric Of Sexuality (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978) pp. 31-71). Just as for a woman to have her skirt ripped above her head and her nakedness displayed was ultimately humiliating for her, so Israel had humiliated God by their sin (<a href='B:300 13:25-27'>Jer 13:25-27</a>); their actions were just as shocking and obscene.</h4><h4>And your shame shall appear- Time and again, Israel were told that through the judgments of punishment they would receive, they would come to know God in truth (e:g. <a href='B:330 25:7'>Eze 25:7</a>. Their own shame was made to appear before their own face by the judgment process (<a href='B:300 13:26'>Jer 13:26</a> RV). But it is possible for us to come to that knowledge now through a correct response to the word. If only in our self examination now we would"judge (i:e. condemn) ourselves, we would not be judged (condemned)"at the judgment seat (<a href='B:530 11:34'>1Co 11:34</a>). The mental effort and organization of time which this requires must surely be worthwhile in the light of this promise.</h4>


text:
<h4>I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem!- The sexual violence to be done to her was appropriate to the nature of her sins, which are presented as sexual- in that every act of trust in the surrounding nations, every covenant with them, was adultery against God. The terms of those covenants was that they had to worship the gods of those nations, which they did"on the hills and in the field"; and this therefore was where they had committed their persecution. Their endless"neighing"for the attentions and favours of the Gentiles was to be reflected in the neighing of the horses of their invaders (only s:w. <a href='B:300 8:16'>Jer 8:16</a>).</h4><h4>You will not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?- LXX"for thou hast not been purified so as to follow me; how long yet shall it be?". This suggests the longing of God for their repentance.</h4>


text:
<p>The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought- See on <a href='B:300 17:8'>Jer 17:8</a>. Drought was the specific punishment for serving other gods, and would lead to the destruction of the people (<a href='B:50 11:16-17'>Deu 11:16-17</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Judah mourns, and its gates languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up- This could mean that God heard their situation as if it were a prayer, even if unarticulated. The intensity of the drought and famine was to try to get the people to repent, as it was in Elijah’s time; so that the even worse blackening of the gates of Jerusalem with fire need not happen at the hands of the Babylonians.</p>


text:
<p>Their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads- This again recalls the recorded search for water during the drought of Elijah’s time. It was to elicit repentance. The covering of heads in shame and confusion is all language of the exile; they were intended to experience those things through the famine and repent, so that the shame of the exile need not have happened. This is typical of how God works, to this day. To focus solely upon His final execution of judgment and to cry foul is to fail to appreciate all the effort made to not have to judge like that.</p>


text:
<p>Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the ploughmen are disappointed, they cover their heads- See on :3."Cracked"is the word usually translated"dismayed"; and there are multiple exhortations not to be dismayed (<a href='B:300 23:4'>Jer 23:4</a>; <a href='B:300 30:10'>Jer 30:10</a>). Judah were dismayed with the dismay of the Gentiles (<a href='B:300 10:2'>Jer 10:2</a> s:w:). And the state of the land reflected their internal mental condition.</p>


text:
<p>Yes, the hind also in the field calves and forsakes her young, because there is no grass- Perhaps we are intended to recall that it is the voice of the Lord which makes the hinds to calve (<a href='B:230 29:9'>Psa 29:9</a>); but the lack of grass was a result of a drought which Israel had brought upon themselves. God’s word had set up a potential which they refused to allow to come to realization.</p>


text:
<p>The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no greenery to eat- The impression is of them scanning the countryside from the high places for food. Those high places were where idols had been worshipped as part of fertility cults; and clearly they had failed to deliver on their promises, as all idols do.</p>


text:
<p>Though our iniquities testify against us, work for Your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You- God had said He would destroy Israel and make of Moses a new nation. But He relented of that, and in <a href='B:330 20:22'>Eze 20:22</a> we see the picture of His internal struggle, working for His Name’s sake, for the sake of the principles incorporated within His Name. So it is an intrinsic part of His Name and essential personality that He changes His judgments from pity. When the Psalmist of <a href='B:230 109:21'>Psa 109:21</a> asks for God’s grace, He asks God to"do"or"work"for the sake of His Name, and not bring about a threatened judgment. Jeremiah likewise understood this and asks God to still be gracious to Israel despite their lack of repentance- through working for His Name’s sake (<a href='B:300 14:7'>Jer 14:7</a>). To save by grace was therefore working or doing according to His Name’s sake, rather than according to human merit (<a href='B:330 36:22'>Eze 36:22</a>). Thus by working for His Name’s sake, the repentant exiles would come to ’know Yahweh’ (<a href='B:330 20:44'>Eze 20:44</a>), they would come to see who He essentially is. And He is revealed as the very opposite of a stone faced, unchanging, insensitive God, which was then the standard conception of a deity.</p>


text:
<h4>You hope of Israel, its Saviour in the time of trouble, why should You be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?- This could be saying that God seems as disinterested in the land as a traveller passing through a foreign country who only spends a night there in transit. But the idea may be that God was toIsrael as a wayfaring man who wanted to lodge with them, but they only let Him stay one night. It must be so awful to have such a wonderful spirit of lavishing grace and love, consciously giving out life and patient forgiveness to so many; and yet not be appreciated for it, to have puny humans shaking their fist at God because they die a brief moment of time sooner than they think they should, to have tiny people arrogantly questioning His love. Seeing that God is Almighty, and God could have made [and could re-make] His creation to ‘understand’ and respond in a robot-like way::. and seeing God has real and deep emotional feelings::. it all makes God almost a tragic figure.</h4><h4>A slightly different slant of interpretation opens when we perceive that the word for"stay"is that used in the phrase"lodging place"in <a href='B:300 9:2'>Jer 9:2</a>, where God says that He wished to leave His people and find a"lodging place in the wilderness for wayfaring men"and spend the night there, away from His adulterous people. Jeremiah here recalls those statements of God in <a href='B:300 9:2'>Jer 9:2</a>, and sees it as tragic that God had felt this way about His people. And indeed it was and is. The desire to leave them was because they were adulterous women and dishonest men (<a href='B:300 9:2'>Jer 9:2</a>). And so the God of all grace, the most surpassingly loving husband, wanted to become an endlessly travelling man, weary of the road, who wanted to just turn in to a one night motel and rest from His weariness. He elsewhere speaks as if the emotional drain of the relationship wearied Him (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>). This of course is Almighty God adjusting Himself to mortal man, allowing Himself to feel through our limitations.</h4>


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<p>Why should You be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can’t save? Yet You, Yahweh, are in the midst of us, and we are called by Your name; don’t leave us- The idea of God limiting His omnipotence and also His omniscience explains why God is described as if He suddenly becomes aware of something, makes haste to intervene, or is hurt by sudden apostasy. These ideas are hard to understand if in fact God has total knowledge, i:e. awareness, from the beginning. They either express God to us in human terms; or God limits His omniscience, as He limits His omnipotence, and therefore disallows Himself from foreseeing all our possible futures:&nbsp; The fact is, God ‘the Saviour of Israel’ can become “as a mighty man that cannot save” by our refusal to accept His salvation (<a href='B:300 14:8-9'>Jer 14:8-9</a>). God left Himself as a mighty man that cannot save, as a wayfaring man wandering through His own deserted land- so much does He respect our freewill decisions concerning Him, no matter how much they hurt Him.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh to this people, Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore Yahweh does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins- God’s response seems to suggest that Jeremiah’s desperate plea for God to remain with them (:9) is out of step with how things really are. The reality is that they had wandered away from Him. They had no applied any self control in going away from Him. See on :12.</p>


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<p>Yahweh said to me, Don’t pray for this people for their good- <a href='B:330 22:30'>Eze 22:30</a> says that if a person had been found at this time who would have powerfully interceded for Jerusalem, ’stood in the gap’, God wouldn’t have destroyed Jerusalem -"that I should not destroy it"in <a href='B:330 22:30'>Eze 22:30</a> is an allusion to Abraham interceding for Sodom in <a href='B:10 18:28'>Gen 18:28</a>. But there was not such a person, because they were"all"dross (<a href='B:330 22:18-19'>Eze 22:18-19</a>). Jeremiah was in the land at the time and was surely righteous, but he had been told not to intercede for the people (<a href='B:300 11:14'>Jer 11:14</a>; <a href='B:300 14:11'>Jer 14:11</a>). It seems that if another like him had been found, in addition to Ezekiel in exile, then the judgments could have been averted. There were simply so many possible scenarios! And this is what we must expect if even time periods can be shortened or extended in response to human behaviour. And yet Jeremiah himself seems to have been too ’pro’ Israel. He was shocked at the depth of their weakness and even naive to it; and in Lamentations he seems to consider God had acted too harshly against His people. So perhaps in any case Jeremiah was not the appropriate interceder.</p>


text:
<h4>When they fast, I will not hear their cry- The command had been for Jeremiah not to pray for the people (:11). But the reason is given that God would not hear their prayer. So we see reflected here the way in which in some circumstances God is prepared to hear the prayer of a third party as the prayer of the person being prayed for. See on <a href='B:480 2:5'>Mar 2:5</a>. But Judah had moved so far from God that this was now not possible.</h4><p>And when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them- Although in real spiritual terms, Judah had gone far away from God to their idols (see on :10), they still made offerings to Yahweh. But these were unacceptable because they were worshipping other gods and offering to them too at the same time</p><h4>But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine and by the plague- Judah were in fact not consumed by these things; in wrath God remembered mercy, by grace. See on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>.</h4>


text:
<p>Then I said, Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place- Again we sense the overly positive view of Israel held by Jeremiah. It ought to have been intuitively obvious to him that these were not Yahweh’s words. And yet Jeremiah apparently enquires of God what is going on. It likewise ought to have been obvious to Judah, with the severe drought upon them, that they already had famine. They were asking a lot of faith from people to believe that their prophecies of"peace in this place"would come true. And yet that promise was also given by the true prophets, word for word the same in <a href='B:440 2:9'>Hag 2:9</a>, requiring faith in it as well. But it was the perversity of human nature to put their faith in a false prophecy.</p>


text:
<p>Then Yahweh said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I didn’t send them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I to them: they prophesy to you a lying vision and divination, a thing of nothing and the deceit of their own heart-"A thing of nothing"is the language of idols. This is how the Hebrew word is usually translated. Their false prophecies were therefore connected with idolatry. They claimed that the idols of Babylon and the nations were inspiring them with messages of peace. That Babylon should come and destroy them, the very opposite of peace, was an appropriate judgment. Yet they made these prophecies in Yahweh’s Name. We see here how they claimed that their idolatry was all sanctioned by Yahweh and was a form of worshipping Him.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name and I didn’t send them, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed- Whilst the deaths of the false prophets is not recorded, we can assume that this judgment was not ameliorated as that upon the entire society was (see on :12). The anger of Judah’s"lovers"was because she had promised total loyalty to them and their gods; but then they discovered Judah had made such agreements with many nations, and the Jerusalem temple was full of idols of various nations. We can understand therefore that the priests and prophets would have been particularly targeted by the invaders, and indeed would have been slain by the sword.</p>


text:
<h4>The people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them- them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them- Sin is its own judgment; the judgment / punishment is likened here to their own sin. The judgment of the teachers / prophets is paralleled with that of their hearers. It wasn’t simply that the masses were genuinely misled. The teachers taught what they perceived their audience wanted to hear, and this explains why teacher and listener alike were condemned. And yet when the people were cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, Jeremiah, the true prophet, laments as if this judgment is somehow unreasonable (e:g. <a href='B:310 2:21'>Lam 2:21</a>). I feel that whilst the human tragedy was enough to make anybody cry"Too much!", Jeremiah is here out of step with the God who had inspired him to make just this prophecy in places like <a href='B:300 14:16'>Jer 14:16</a>.</h4><h4>I have noted several times that the prophesied judgments in Jeremiah differ from each other; he has also predicted that there would be such mass destruction that there would be nobody to bury the dead, for all would be slain (<a href='B:300 14:16'>Jer 14:16</a>). But <a href='B:300 19:11'>Jer 19:11</a> speaks of burying bodies in Topheth. These different scenarios didn’t all come true. There were various prophetic options, according to the exact measure of Israel’s repentance and Jeremiah’s intercession; or perhaps, simply according to the pity which Yahweh would finally show this sinful people.</h4>


text:
<h4>You shall say this word to them, Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease- This could be read as an invitation to repent in tears, in the desperate hope God may yet change His intended judgment; hence LXX"Let your eyes shed tears day and night, and let them not cease: for the daughter of my people has been sorely bruised, and her plague is very grievous". But there is an ambiguity in the text, whereby apparently God is the one who is mourning night and day. Perhaps this is purposeful; they were to mourn as He did, seeing the coming judgments from His perspective, rather than from the human perspective of considering them as just a tragic misfortune. Jeremiah himself entered into this, for he wept night and day for Zion. This passage is alluded to in <a href='B:310 2:18'>Lam 2:18</a>, where Jeremiah appears to ask the remaining Jews in Jerusalem to pray night and day; and yet there too, the grammar is ambiguous. For he may be saying there that they had already done this. The truth was they had not, Jeremiah had done so, but contrary to what he hoped, God was not prepared to accept his tears of repentance and mourning as theirs (see on <a href='B:300 14:11'>Jer 14:11</a>).</h4><p>For the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound- This is the language of the rape of a virgin. And yet as Jeremiah and Ezekiel have made very clear, Judah had long since given up her virginity to the nations. So this loss of virginity had been of her own eager choice. The"breach"recalls the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (<a href='B:300 39:2'>Jer 39:2</a>; <a href='B:300 52:7'>Jer 52:7</a>); indeed the word seems to have the sense of the rape of a virgin here when we read that the virgin daughter of Zion had been breached (<a href='B:300 14:17'>Jer 14:17</a>). And both Jeremiah and even God, according to <a href='B:300 8:21'>Jer 8:21</a>, felt themselves breached in this breach ofGod’s people and city. This was how closely identified God was with His wicked people; and how much more does He feel with us in Christ, we who at least seek not to live as Judah did at that time::.</p><p>Like us, Jeremiah didn’t consistently have a heart of compassion. Initially he didn’t even want to preach to his people. And he even prayed that he would so grieve for them in regard to the message he gave them, that he would cry for them day and night: “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (<a href='B:300 9:1'>Jer 9:1</a>). And this prayer was heard. For by Lamentations, this is just what he was doing. And if what we read of Jeremiah troubles us, we too can pray for a heart that bleeds, and through the experience of life which the Lord allows us, He will develop such a heart in those who want it. You may be so caught up in your business, your family, your ecclesia even, your web of social contact… that in honest moments, you know that your heart doesn’t bleed as it should. You see the needs and pain and struggle of men and women, but it doesn’t touch your heart very deeply. Jeremiah may well have been like this; but he prayed for a new heart, and so can you. Jeremiah had actually been commanded by God to have such a level of grief for His people: “Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken” (<a href='B:300 14:17'>Jer 14:17</a>). Jeremiah’s grief was God’s word of care and concern to the people; and so it can be with us. Jeremiah was to be like this, to reflect God’s passion for His people; so he prayed that he would have such a heart of true compassion [note that the chapters in Jeremiah are totally out of sequence chronologically]; and in the end, he found it.</p><h4>In <a href='B:300 6:7'>Jer 6:7</a>, God laments that the continual bubbling forth of their wickedness, as from a perpetual fountain, was matched in His continual woundedness. That God can be wounded by our behaviour::. is a stunning concept. This reveals the extent to which God has sensitized Himself toward man, when we are but ants before Him, the King of the cosmos. Yet the same word is used here of the deep wounding of God’s people by the invaders (<a href='B:300 14:17'>Jer 14:17</a>; <a href='B:300 30:14'>Jer 30:14</a>); but God felt that Himself even before they did.</h4>


text:
<p>If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge- This is Jeremiah looking ahead in faith to the fulfillment of God’s words."Go about::."is the language of trading. Jeremiah blames his own people- the priests and prophets- for the situation. And it was their love of material benefit and gain which led them to their false teachings, and which in turn led the people to accept it so eagerly. They had"no knowledge"in the Hebraic sense of relationship with God. Again we see that the acceptance of false doctrine / understanding is often based on subconscious immoral desires or is predicated upon moral rather than purely intellectual issues.</p>


text:
<h4>Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!- Again we sense Jeremiah somewhat out of step with God, accusing Him of not giving peace and healing- despite the reasons for that having been specifically stated by God. However he may be quoting the words of the people, which :22 then comments upon. The lack of quotation marks and expected rubric for quotations often makes interpretation of Jeremiah difficult. They"looked for peace"because the false prophets told them that; or perhaps they referred to Isaiah’s prophecies of peace in the restored Kingdom of God. The terms of God’s covenant had been clear, using the same phrase for ’the soul loathing’; if Israel’s soul loathed God’s judgments, then His soul would loathe them (<a href='B:30 26:11'>Lev 26:11</a>; <a href='B:30 26:15'>Lev 26:15</a>; <a href='B:30 26:30'>Lev 26:30</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a>). They had loathed or literally ’cast away’ God their husband (s:w. <a href='B:330 16:45'>Eze 16:45</a>), and so the distance between God and themselves was of their making and initiative.</h4><h4>The level of shameless self-justification is extreme; so extreme that we reflect it could only have arisen from allowing themselves to be utterly convinced that they were serving Yahweh through serving the idols, and that the words of the false prophets were those of God. But this utter conviction was not simply a case of intellectual failure or being mislead by their teachers. It had a strong moral basis to it; in that they were believing what they wanted t believe, in order to justify their lusts.</h4>


text:
<h4>We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You- As noted on :21, the lack of quotation marks and expected rubric for quotations often makes interpretation of Jeremiah difficult. This seems to be God’s fantasy about their response of repentance; or these could be Jeremiah’s words, hoping that his feelings would be counted as those of the people. But as discussed on :12, he had been specifically told that God was not going to accept this. In which case he was absolutely out of step with God in this matter; for God had said that he should not pray nor reason in this way (see on :11).</h4><h4>Jeremiah earlier has repeated God’s request that they"acknowledge iniquity"(<a href='B:300 3:13'>Jer 3:13</a>). But they did not. But here he says that"we"have done so. He either considered that he was representative of the people, or he failed to accept that their acknowledging of iniquity was only on a surface level. Although on one hand Jeremiah is in step with God’s feeling and thinking, he comes over so often (especially in Lamentations) as implying that God is unjust. He had an over positive view of his people. They did not"acknowledge iniquity"as required, but he considers they had done.</h4>


text:
<h4>Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake; do not disgrace the throne of Your glory- Here we find something wonderful: “Do not abhor us… do not disgrace the throne of Your glory”. We, weak humans, are paralleled with the throne of God’s glory. Although Jerusalem is in mind, Jeremiah seems to understand that God’s throne is essentially His repentant people.</h4><h4>Remember, don’t break Your covenant with us- Jeremiah appears again out of step with God. For he has repeatedly lamented how Israel have broken the covenant. Israel’s breaking of the covenant meant that God had therefore broken the covenant (<a href='B:30 26:15'>Lev 26:15</a>; <a href='B:30 26:44'>Lev 26:44</a> s:w:). Idolatry was therefore to"break My covenant"(<a href='B:50 31:20'>Deu 31:20</a>; <a href='B:330 44:7'>Eze 44:7</a>). God’s covenant was broken by them. So the issue of God breaking His covenant was not relevant; He had broken His covenant insofar as they had broken it. What was required was their repentance and desperate seeking of a new covenant with God to replace the one they had broken.</h4>


text:
<p>Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? or can the sky give showers? Aren’t You He, Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for You; for You have made all these things- As explained on :20, Jeremiah is apparently assuming that his feelings will be accepted as the peoples’. He indeed waited for Yahweh, but the people did not. As Jeremiah elsewhere has to point out and prophecy, the people continued in their mad devotion to the idols right up to the fall of the city. And those idols were supposed to have been the creators of the various planets. Here Jeremiah appears to deny those idolatrous beliefs by saying that Yahweh alone is their creator and therefore in total control of the rainfall. But in reality the people were still worshipping the various rain gods and planets, in the hope they would give rain. And so Jeremiah was wrong to speak for the people in this way; and he has been specifically told not to do so, as explained on :11,12.</p>


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<h4>Then Yahweh said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind would not be towards this people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth- As discussed on <a href='B:300 14:11-12'>Jer 14:11-12</a>, things had gone so far with Israel that Jeremiah’s words were not to be counted as Israel’s, and so in that sense He was not to pray for them. However as noted on <a href='B:300 14:20-22'>Jer 14:20-22</a>, he attempts to do so. And here we have God’s response. He was not going to accept third party intercession and repentance as theirs. Hence the force&nbsp; here of"then Yahweh said::.". ‘Standing before the Lord’ refers to prayer- <a href='B:230 106:23'>Psa 106:23</a>; <a href='B:150 9:15'>Ezr 9:15</a>; <a href='B:300 15:1'>Jer 15:1</a>; <a href='B:300 18:20'>Jer 18:20</a>. To live a life standing before the Lord is to live a life of prayer. Hence David and Paul say that prayer can be continual- in that life becomes a lived out prayer, with the practice of living in the presence of God. And straight away we ask ourselves, in lives just as busy as those of David and Paul, whetherour self-talk, our minute by minute inner consciousness, is “before the Lord”::. or merely the sheer and utter vapidity of the modern mind.</h4><h4>God’s"soul"(LXX) could not face the people, they were to be cast out of His presence; and therefore no intercessor could stand in His presence representing them. There has to come a moment when the pull of the flow toward the waterfall of condemnation is now too strong, and the plunge is inevitable. It is that moment which perhaps we need to fear more than anything else in human experience. It happened to Israel- their hearts too were hard, and in the end, after a period, God have them over to their hard hearts (<a href='B:230 81:11-12'>Psa 81:11-12</a>)- the implication being that even whilst He hardened their hearts, He kept them by grace from the full consequences::. but in the end, the final inevitable drag towards the waterfall set in. This is why there were times when even repentance, as a change of mind, could not save Jerusalem from destruction (<a href='B:300 4:28'>Jer 4:28</a>; <a href='B:300 15:1-9'>Jer 15:1-9</a>; <a href='B:300 16:12'>Jer 16:12</a>; <a href='B:330 7:1-9'>Eze 7:1-9</a>). This was the moment after the inevitable tug towards the waterfall beings, but before the actual plunge. It’s Saul cowering before the witch of Endor, lying face down in the dirt that fateful night::. and this is the human condition we should most dread.</h4>


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<p>It shall happen, when they tell you, Where shall we go forth? Then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity- The idea may be that they would desire to"go forth", but none would come out of the siege alive apart from a fourth part who would go into captivity. The rest would only come out of the siege of Jerusalem, as it were, to death. But that isn’t how it worked out. The various statements of judgment express the various possible scenarios which could have emerged. For they didn’t all come true; see on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>.</p>


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<p>I will appoint over them four kinds, says Yahweh: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky and the animals of the land, to devour and to destroy- LXX"Four kinds of death". But there is no evidence that wild animals killed anyone in Judah. It may have happened, but the idea seems to be that a quarter of the population would be killed by the invaders, and the rest by birds and wild animals. If the animals of the land refer to the local nations killing the Jews, then we would have thought that was included in the category"the sword to kill". So we seem here to have&nbsp; a prediction that three quarters of the population would die at the hand of wild animals- perhaps aggressively searching for food due to the awful drought of Jeremiah 14, and the abandoning of the countryside. But this didn’t happen. As noted on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>, God in wrath remembered mercy, or perhaps allowed a different path of events and potentials to take place. Indeed the very next verse speaks of them being wanderers amongst the nations; which means they were not all to be slain as here threatened. We are meant to understand that there were&nbsp; various potential scenarios which could work out- depending upon the extent of their repentance.</p>


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<p>I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the land because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem- This removing of Judah from their land uses the same word as in <a href='B:50 28:25'>Deu 28:25</a>; in response to their breaking of the covenant, they would be"removed (s:w:) into all the kingdoms of the eretz, throughout the land promised to Abraham. But this curse could have been turned into a blessing; for the restoration prophets envisaged the nations of the eretz repenting and converting to Yahweh. This could have been achieved by the exiles witnessing to the various peoples and languages within the Babylonian / Persian empire. But this didn’t happen as was potentially possible. The exiles didn’t repent, and so their repentance and experience of the grace of forgiveness was not the powerful pattern of conversion to their neighbours which it could have been. The kingdoms of the eretz would then be the wild animals of the land of :3. Ezekiel at this time had been careful to explain that the children don’t die for the sins of their fathers. They would be punished because they continued in the sins of Manasseh.</p>


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<p>For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask of your welfare?- LXX "Who will spare you?". This is a rhetorical series of questions, each of which is answered in one word: Yahweh. He was the One who would "have pity" upon the exiles although nobody else would (s:w. <a href='B:330 36:21'>Eze 36:21</a>; <a href='B:360 2:18'>Joe 2:18</a>; <a href='B:460 3:17'>Mal 3:17</a>). LXX "who will turn back to ask for thy welfare?" suggests therefore that Yahweh did "turn back" or relent. See on :3. The "welfare", Heb. shalom, the peace of Jerusalem::. is indeed Yahweh’s special interest. "Ask" is literally ’to pray’, and the same two words are found in <a href='B:230 122:6'>Psa 122:6</a>: "Pray [ask] for the peace [welfare] of Jerusalem".</p>


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<h4>You have rejected Me, says Yahweh, you have gone backward- As explained on <a href='B:300 7:21'>Jer 7:21</a>; <a href='B:300 7:24'>Jer 7:24</a>, they were confirmed in their backward path by God Himself. "Rejected" is ’cast off’. Yahweh ’cast off’ Judah (<a href='B:300 12:7'>Jer 12:7</a>; <a href='B:300 23:33'>Jer 23:33</a>) but only because they had cast Him off (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a> s:w:). And yet God did not cast off His people (<a href='B:300 33:26'>Jer 33:26</a>); Jeremiah personally was persuaded that God would not cast off His people for ever (<a href='B:310 3:31'>Lam 3:31</a>). He will show them mercy as if He had not cast them off (<a href='B:450 10:6'>Zec 10:6</a>); this reversal of their casting off was to be through the repentance of the exiled community (<a href='B:30 26:44'>Lev 26:44</a>). But even this didn’t happen, and yet God still did not cast them away (<a href='B:520 11:2'>Rom 11:2</a>). His love and grace was such that He holds on to them. This desperate holding on to His people is seen in the experience of every person who joins God’s people through baptism into Christ. They may indeed be cast off ultimately, but that is because they cast Him off, and wrestled against His insistent desire to keep hold of them eternally.</h4><p>Therefore have I stretched out My hand against you and destroyed you- The hand of God is an Angelic term, and here we see it responsible for the frequent repenting (changing of mind) of God concerning Israel. Frequent repentance is fundamentally not a characteristic of God Himself- "God is not a man, that He should repent" (<a href='B:40 23:19'>Num 23:19</a>; <a href='B:90 15:29'>1Sa 15:29</a>).</p><p>I am weary- This weariness of God is reflected in how in <a href='B:300 9:2'>Jer 9:2</a>, God says that He wished to leave His people and find a "lodging place in the wilderness for wayfaring men" and spend the night there, away from His adulterous people. In <a href='B:300 14:8'>Jer 14:8</a>, Jeremiah here recalls those statements of God, and sees it as tragic that God had felt this way about His people. And indeed it was and is. The desire to leave them was because they were adulterous women and dishonest men (<a href='B:300 9:2'>Jer 9:2</a>). And so the God of all grace, the most surpassingly loving husband, wanted to become an endlessly travelling man, weary of the road, who wanted to just turn in to a one night motel and rest from His weariness. The emotional drain of the relationship wearied Him. This of course is Almighty God adjusting Himself to mortal man, allowing Himself to feel through our limitations.</p><h4>With relenting- God was prepared to relent (<a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a>; <a href='B:300 26:3'>Jer 26:3</a>; <a href='B:300 26:13'>Jer 26:13</a>; <a href='B:300 26:19'>Jer 26:19</a>; <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>), and yet He says in <a href='B:300 4:28'>Jer 4:28</a> that He will not. This is not self-contradiction, but rather a reflection of the depth of how God’s compassion is finally greater than His judgment of sin. The whole mental and emotional trauma made God weary of all the relenting, so deeply did He feel it (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>). This is likewise the theme of Hosea’s emotionally draining relationship with Gomer, which reflected that of Yahweh with Israel (<a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a>).</h4>


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<h4>I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed My people; they didn’t return from their ways- And yet they had bereaved themselves of their children by offering them to the idols. The ’destruction’ of the people was not literal death; for after it, they still didn’t "return from their ways". There is a play upon the word for "return". Israel’s return to God would be matched by their return to the land. The exiles didn’t repent, and yet by grace God still returned them, so eager was and is He to as it were force through His purpose of grace. The destruction is parallel with the winnowing; the intention was that the judgment would lead to the true corn falling to the ground and the chaff being blown away. But this didn’t happen, and so it was reapplied and rescheduled to the last days.</h4>


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<h4>Their widows are increased to Me above the sand of the seas; I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday- Attacks were typically made at dawn and not in the heat and visibility of noon. But the destroyers would be that confident and zealous as to attack and destroy the women at noon. These words are very similar to those ofPsa 137:8-9, where the daughter of Babylon is to be "destroyed" (s:w. "destroyer") and also loose her children. What was done to Zion was to be done to Babylon; which is the theme of Revelation, that the judgments upon Israel are then to be brought upon those who deliver them. All throughout, it is Yahweh who is the "destroyer" through the hand of the surrounding peoples (s:w. Jer 25:36). This was in radical tension with the idea that a local god is always supportive of his people and always saves them. The God of Israel reveals a sensitivity to sin as fundamental to His character; and therefore He will judge and even destroy His own people rather than save them from their invaders.</h4><h4>I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly- The sudden nature of Jerusalem’s fall is emphasized (<a href='B:300 4:20'>Jer 4:20</a>; <a href='B:300 6:26'>Jer 6:26</a>; <a href='B:300 15:8'>Jer 15:8</a>; <a href='B:300 18:22'>Jer 18:22</a>); she was to fall as Babylon would "suddenly" fall (<a href='B:300 51:8'>Jer 51:8</a>). Jerusalem fell predictably after a siege, there were no great surprises that she fell. See on <a href='B:300 16:9'>Jer 16:9</a>. It was not a sudden fall that came out of left field, unexpectedly. And yet that is the implication of the prophecies. Babylon was reveling in prosperity when the Medes unexpectedly took the city; but the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon was totally expected and inevitable. Yet the fall is spoken of as "sudden". It could be that a potential "sudden" invasion and destruction of Jerusalem was projected by God, but the intercession of the few faithful, or the repentance of a tiny remnant, changed this possible outcome of their sin. So many different possibilities of judgment are given, ranging from a quarter destruction to total destruction of people and even all animal life. This reflects the open nature of God’s working with His people, setting up various potentials in order to be fully responsive to human freewill decisions.</h4>


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<p>She who has borne seven languishes; she has given up the spirit; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been disappointed and confounded: and their residue will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, says Yahweh- Instead of being respected and glorified for having had seven children, the woman was ashamed because those children were dead. There is a strong sense of disappointment here, her sun going down before its time. This may refer to how the false prophets were shown to be so shamefully wrong.</p>


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<h4>Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land!- Having spoken of the shame of a mother who loses her seven children, Jeremiah now thinks of his own mother, and feels her shame for having given birth to such a "man of strife" as himself. This logical progression of thought concerning the shame of mothers has the ring of psychological credibility to it. This is indeed how Jeremiah would have felt, and again, the Biblical record has every credibility and internal evidence that it is true. "To the whole land" / eretz suggests that his messages were taken to the Gentile nations in the land promised to Abraham. God’s intention was that they too along with Judah and Israel should repent, and participate in the restored Kingdom of God in Israel which He wished to establish.</h4><h4>I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet everyone of them curses me- The people cursed Jeremiah as people curse one in whose debt they are. By preaching the Truth to people, they become in our debt. Paul used this figure to persuade Philemon, who as his convert was as it were in his eternal debt. Our preaching of the Gospel is not therefore without impact upon the consciences of our hearers. Their apparent disinterest is an act. Every bullet, as it were, hits its target; but people consciously choose not to respond.</h4>


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<h4>Yahweh said, Most certainly I will strengthen you for good; most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction- The promise of strengthening is a repeat of that made at the start of Jeremiah’s ministry. The strengthening was psychological strengthening against their hate and rejection of him. The Hebrew word for ’intercede’ means also ’to meet’; every prayer is a meeting with God (<a href='B:220 21:15'>Job 21:15</a>; <a href='B:290 47:3'>Isa 47:3</a>; <a href='B:290 64:5'>Isa 64:5</a>; <a href='B:300 7:16'>Jer 7:16</a>; <a href='B:300 15:11'>Jer 15:11</a>). Those who had so hated Jeremiah would come to him begging for his help in mediating with God.</h4><h4>The Hebrew here is difficult. The LXX offers: "Be it so, Lord, in their prosperity; surely I stood before thee in the time of their calamities, and in the time of their affliction, for their good against the enemy". GNB: "LORD, may all their curses come true if I have not served you well, if I have not pleaded with you on behalf of my enemies when they were in trouble and distress". The LXX would suggest that Jeremiah succeeded in interceding before God, and achieved "good" for them, in that his intercession ameliorated the judgments pronounced at the hand of their enemies. This would explain why there are so many different scenarios of judgment given through Jeremiah; but some were ameliorated by his intercession.</h4>


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<p>Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?- GNB "No one can break iron, especially the iron from the north that is mixed with bronze". In those days, "iron" was not made as today and was relatively weak. But the Babylonians mixed iron and brass, and this was the hardest metal of its time. We see here how God’s word speaks in terms of contemporary understandings and situations, just as the language of demon possession is used in the New Testament.</p>


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<p>Your substanceand your treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders- GNB "The LORD said to me,"I will send enemies to carry away the wealth and treasures of my people, in order to punish them for the sins they have committed throughout the land". But their sins may have been particularly in their borders, for it was from these that they went to the nations surrounding them, seeking relationship and covenants which are portrayed in the prophets as similar to prostitution. The mention of"treasures"could refer to the temple treasures. But it could be that until the drought, Judah had become prosperous under the reforms of Josiah. Yet their wealth is presented as parallel with their sins, which were to be punished by the loss of wealth.</p>


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<h4>I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you don’t know; for a fire is kindled in My anger, which shall burn on you- GNB"it will burn forever". But it didn’t. God felt like that, at that time, but the pole of His mercy is stronger, in the end, than that of His rightful anger and judgment.</h4><h4>Both Yahweh and Israel are described as kindling the fire of judgment; He responded to what they had done (<a href='B:300 11:16'>Jer 11:16</a>; <a href='B:300 15:14'>Jer 15:14</a>; <a href='B:310 4:11'>Lam 4:11</a> cp. <a href='B:300 17:4'>Jer 17:4</a>). Thus Israel were the ones who had kindled the fire of Yahweh’s condemnation (<a href='B:300 17:4'>Jer 17:4</a>). The rejected are witnesses against themselves (<a href='B:290 44:9'>Isa 44:9</a>; <a href='B:470 23:31'>Mat 23:31</a>). Herein lies the crass folly and illogicality of sin. Jeremiah pleaded with Israel:"Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls [i:e. yourselves], to cut off from you man and woman:::that ye might cut yourselves off"(<a href='B:300 44:7-8'>Jer 44:7-8</a>, cp. how Jerusalem cut her own hair off in <a href='B:300 7:29'>Jer 7:29</a>). In the same passage, Yahweh is the one who does the cutting off (<a href='B:300 44:11'>Jer 44:11</a>); but they had cut themselves off. Likewise as they had kindled fire on their roofs in offering sacrifices to Baal, so Yahweh through the Babylonians would set fire to those same houses (<a href='B:300 32:29'>Jer 32:29</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Yahweh, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; don’t take me away in Your long suffering: know that for Your sake I have suffered reproach- God had promised Jeremiah protection and strength at the start of his ministry, but he clearly doubted this. He felt that he was likely to be killed, and he asks God to save him from this. That salvation was to be according to God’s patient long suffering; which may suggest that Jeremiah felt he was worthy of death as a sinner, and it was only of grace and Divine patience that he be spared death.</h4><h4>It seems that Jeremiah was one of several later characters who found inspiration in Samson, and alluded to him in their prayers to God, seeing the similarities between his spirit and theirs:"O Yahweh [Samson only used the Yahweh Name at the end of his life], thou knowest: remember me [as Samson asked to be remembered for good, <a href='B:70 16:28'>Jdg 16:28</a>], and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors ["that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines", <a href='B:70 16:28'>Jdg 16:28</a>]::. know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke [the Philistines doubtless mocked Yahweh as well as Samson]. Thy words were found, and I did eat them [cp. Samson loving the word and eating the honey which he "found" in the lion]: and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart::. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers::. I sat alone because of thy hand [Samson’s separation from an apostate Israel]::. why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable?"[the finality of his blindness] (<a href='B:300 15:15-17'>Jer 15:15-17</a>). If these connections are valid, Samson’s love of the word was a very big part of his life.</h4>


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<h4>Your words were found, and I ate them- Josiah’s zealous reforms started with reading"the book of the covenant"(<a href='B:120 23:2'>2Ki 23:2</a>), probably the list of curses which were to come for disobedience (<a href='B:120 22:19'>2Ki 22:19</a> =&nbsp; <a href='B:30 26:31-32'>Lev 26:31-32</a>). And this book was in some way a joy and rejoicing to Jeremiah (<a href='B:300 15:16'>Jer 15:16</a>). In this sense Paul used the terror of possible condemnation to persuade men (<a href='B:540 5:11'>2Co 5:11</a>), and David in the Psalms takes comfort and joy in judgment to come.</h4><p>Despite this unity of spirit between God and the prophets, the prophets weren’t always forced to say the words. Jeremiah didn’t want to say them at times, the weariness of it all got on top of him; and yet he felt unable to walk away, just as God felt with Israel. But there were times when he outright rebelled. <a href='B:300 20:7'>Jer 20:7</a> is made a mess of in most translations, because the obvious translation is simply too shocking. Jeremiah complains: “O Lord, thou hast seduced me [s:w. <a href='B:20 22:16'>Exo 22:16</a> of a man seducing a woman], and I am seduced; thou hast raped me [s:w. <a href='B:50 22:15'>Deu 22:15</a>] and I am overcome” (Abraham Heschel’s translation). Here is Jeremiah saying that he was attracted by God, he was seduced by Him, but then the whole thing became too much- he felt his soul had been raped. And yet in <a href='B:300 15:16'>Jer 15:16</a> he says that he had found God’s word and eaten it, and as a result, “I am called by thy name, O Lord”- the language of a woman marrying and taking her husband’s name (<a href='B:290 4:1'>Isa 4:1</a>). The word of God was his “joy [and] delight”- two words used four times elsewhere in Jeremiah, and always in the context of the joy of a wedding (<a href='B:300 7:34'>Jer 7:34</a>; <a href='B:300 16:9'>Jer 16:9</a>; <a href='B:300 25:10'>Jer 25:10</a>; <a href='B:300 33:11'>Jer 33:11</a>). Jeremiah saw his prophetic task as actually a marriage to God, an inbreathing of His word and being, to the point that he could say that he personally was “full of the wrath / passion of God” (<a href='B:300 6:11'>Jer 6:11</a>). A prophet could only be incensed if God was incensed (<a href='B:40 23:8'>Num 23:8</a>)- such was the bond between them. No wonder these men felt alone amongst men. They had a relationship with God which others couldn’t enter into, which totally affected their lives and beings. The preacher / testifier of Jesus knows something of this spirit of prophecy. But in <a href='B:300 20:7'>Jer 20:7</a>, Jeremiah felt he had been raped and not married. He resented the complete takeover of his heart.</p><p>And Your words were to me the joy and the delight of my heart: for I am called by Your name, Yahweh, God of Armies- Jeremiah’s lament that the people had no joy or delight in God’s word (<a href='B:300 6:10'>Jer 6:10</a>) is the basis for this comment that when he found God’s words, they were his joy. We might therefore detect there a sense of spiritual superiority over the Jews for whom God’s word was not their joy. <a href='B:300 6:10'>Jer 6:10</a> had spoken of how God’s word was a"reproach"to Israel, and here in :15 he laments how he had become a reproach because of his identity with God’s word.</p><h4>LXX is slightly different:"Consume them; and thy word shall be to me for the joy and gladness of my heart: for thy name has been called upon me, O Lord Almighty". The idea would therefore be that if God consumes Jeremiah’s enemies, which included his own family, then he would find joy and gladness in God’s word. But without that, he implies that he saw little personal delight in it. This would have been great weakness; and would fit the impression that in :16-18 Jeremiah sins in what he says, and is challenged to repent of his attitude in :19.</h4>


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<h4>I didn’t sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Your hand; for You have filled me with indignation- This was all true in a sense, and alludes to Psalms 1. But Jeremiah is rebuked for his attitude of resenting that he"sat alone"and had kept away from the"assembly"of the rejoicers (<a href='B:300 15:17'>Jer 15:17</a>; <a href='B:300 15:19'>Jer 15:19</a>); and so we are to assume that he said these things in resentment that he had had to stand alone amongst men. He resented how he"sat alone"(<a href='B:310 3:28'>Lam 3:28</a>); yet this is the very term used of how Jerusalem was to"sit alone [solitary]"(<a href='B:310 1:1'>Lam 1:1</a>). He was her representative, and yet he seems to have resented that. He was after all being representative of those who had hated him and tried to kill him. As Jeremiah wrongly lamented his own ’sitting alone’, so he ought to have perceived that he should not have lamented Jerusalem’s likewise.</h4><h4>As we lay awake at night looking up at the lamp fitting, or stare out from the balcony at the city lights, there must have been within each reader a deep sense of this clawing, intrusive loneliness. That search for ourselves, that inner despair, that fear of standing so totally and essentially alone in this world… And I have reason to believe that these kinds of struggles are more common amongst Christians than amongst many others. For we have been separated from this world unto the things of the future Kingdom; there is a deep and natural sense of our‘separation’, yet frankly we often don’t know how to handle it. But we can end up like Jeremiah here, almost resenting that separation: “I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me::." . Our essential loneliness, and recognizing it, is what leads us to faith in and relationship with our true Father. The Lord Jesus will not leave us alone as orphans- He will come to us (<a href='B:500 14:18'>Joh 14:18</a>). He does this through “The Comforter”, the Spirit of Christ.</h4>


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<h4>Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will You indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?- LXX "Why do they that grieve me prevail against me? my wound is severe; whence shall I be healed?". Jeremiah saw no way out from his psychological pain which had arisen from him accepting the perspective of God about Israel. He also saw that his separation from his family (:17) was going to be permanent; as they were so against God, so they would be against him, He was no cure for his broken heart. And this of course represented the feelings of God about Israel. But Jeremiah appears to feel that God has promised him a better experience than this. He felt God was deceitful, a mirage of water in a thirsty land which in reality wasn’t there. It was this which was so upsetting to God. For He does not deceive His people. As representative of both God and Judah, the fault was not with God but with Judah; their impenitence was the cause for Jeremiah’s perpetually broken heart. This was how God felt. But Jeremiah was tired of feeling that hurt and isolated; he wanted to be a normal person rather than the manifestation of Yahweh. This giving up, being tired of acting for God, of intimate identity with Him, warranted the strict and condemnatory response of God in :19.</h4><h4>The "waters that fail" may be an allusion to <a href='B:290 58:11'>Isa 58:11</a>, where God had promised the faithful that even in drought (which was ongoing at this time, <a href='B:300 14:1'>Jer 14:1</a>), He would be as waters that don’t fail to His faithful people. "Fail" is s:w. "deceitful". Yet Jeremiah apparently feels that God hasn’t come through on this promise; perhaps he resented having to suffer the results of the drought along with the rest of Israel.</h4>


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<h4>Therefore thus says Yahweh, If you return, then I will restore you, and you shall stand before Me- Jeremiah often makes a play upon the Hebrew word shub- it can mean to turn away (from God), and also to ’turn back’ or repent (e:g. <a href='B:300 3:1'>Jer 3:1</a>; <a href='B:300 3:7'>Jer 3:7</a>; <a href='B:300 3:10'>Jer 3:10</a>; <a href='B:300 3:12'>Jer 3:12</a>; <a href='B:300 3:14'>Jer 3:14</a>; <a href='B:300 3:19'>Jer 3:19</a>; <a href='B:300 3:22'>Jer 3:22</a>; <a href='B:300 4:1'>Jer 4:1</a>). Jeremiah had sinned in his words of :16-18. If he returned / repented, then he would be restored. And yet even through this failure, God uses Jeremiah to be representative of Israel. If Israel turned in repentance, then God would return them to their land and restore the kingdom of God in Israel; if they turned away from Him, He would turn them out into the Gentile world. Our lives are a twisting and turning, either to or away from God; and God is waiting to confirm us in those twists and turns. <a href='B:300 8:4-6'>Jer 8:4-6</a> comment that if one turns from the right road, then they must turn back. We all know how when we miss the way in finding an unfamiliar address, there’s a tendency to keep on going along the wrong road- because turning back is so psychologically difficult. And this is the image that God uses here- to appeal to Israel, and ourselves, not to foolishly ’backslide’, keep on turning away, from Him- just because that’s the course we’re set upon.</h4><p>If you utter what is precious, and not what is base, you shall be as My mouth: they shall return to you, but you shall not return to them- His words of :16-18 are therefore called "base". The word is used for riot, drunkenness and gluttony; this was how God viewed his lack of self control with his words. Although the record of them is in the inspired Bible, those words were not right. We see here the difference between inspiration [of the historical record] and revelation [of Divine truths through His word, which in these particular words of Jeremiah we don’t have. But several versions follow the LXX "If thou wilt bring forth the precious from the worthless, thou shalt be as my mouth: and they shall return to thee; but thou shalt not return to them". "The precious" would refer to "the precious sons of Zion" (s:w:), which Jeremiah later laments were slain, and therefore he had not saved (<a href='B:310 4:2'>Lam 4:2</a>). He had not separated the good metal from the dross in his ministry.</p><h4>In <a href='B:300 15:15'>Jer 15:15</a>, Jeremiah asks for vengeance on his persecutors, and inJer 15:18 accuses God of deceiving him. God’s response is to ask him to repent of this, so that he can resume his prophetic work: “If you [Jeremiah] return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me [prophetic language]. If you utter what is precious, and not what is base, you shall be as my mouth” (<a href='B:300 15:19'>Jer 15:19</a>). Perhaps Jeremiah had this incident in mind when he commented: “The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word” (<a href='B:310 1:18'>Lam 1:18</a>). This indicates that at least in Jeremiah’s case, he was not irresistibly carried along by the Spirit in some kind of ecstasy, having no option but to speak God’s word. His speaking of God’s word required that he shared the essentially loving and gracious spirit / disposition of his God.</h4>


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<p>I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says Yahweh- This continues the reassurance to Jeremiah given in :15, in response to his collapse of faith that God would preserve him from the Jewish opposition. God had promised Jeremiah protection and strength at the start of his ministry, but he clearly doubted this. He felt that he was likely to be killed, and he asks God to save him from this. But again we see how Jeremiah is representative of Judah, at least potentially. For had they repented as Jeremiah did (:19), then they would also have found that they were fought against (by the Babylonians) but not prevailed against. And God’s promise of deliverance would have been true for them as well as Jeremiah. But there is clearly a double meaning in these words; for they could have come true in that Jeremiah personally was their bronze wall, and then those who fought against "you" (Judah) would not prevail, for the sake of Jeremiah’s intercession, acting as a wall between them and their enemies.</p>


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<p>I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible- As noted on :20, the passage could refer to Jeremiah being delivered out of the hand of the "wicked::. terrible" Jews (s:w. <a href='B:300 14:16'>Jer 14:16</a>; <a href='B:300 33:5'>Jer 33:5</a>); or to their deliverance from the "wicked::. terrible" Babylonians as a result of his intercession for them (the words are used of them in <a href='B:330 28:7'>Eze 28:7</a>; <a href='B:330 31:12'>Eze 31:12</a> etc:). Even in his weakness and failure, Jeremiah was still representative of his people.</p>


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<p>The word of Yahweh came also to me saying- This appears to continue from the previous chapter, where Jeremiah has been rebuked and is told that he must repent and continue his mediation. This perhaps is why he is asked here to make himself representative of condemned Judah in a very personally demanding way.</p>


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<p>You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters in this place- This is not to say Jeremiah had never had a wife; she may have died in one of the earlier Babylonian invasions. The reason given is that she and their children were likely to be killed. Whether that was of itself a reason not to marry isn’t quite the point; Jeremiah was to live out an acted parable in order to demonstrate the reality of judgment to come. He was demonstrating his connection with God’s people, both Judah and the ten tribes. For the allusion is to <a href='B:350 9:9'>Hos 9:9</a>: "Ephraim is bringing forth his children to the murderer". To not have children was a form of death for people of that age. <a href='B:530 7:26'>1Co 7:26</a> appears to allude here, where Paul advises that in the tribulation of the last days of AD70, it would be better not to have wife and children.</p>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land- This would imply that Jeremiah should not have a family, because if he did then he too would die, as only the single, unmarried would escape. But that doesn’t quite ring true to the situation. Jeremiah is being asked to act out a kind of parable in which he is representative of the people; see on :1.</p>


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<p>They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth- Jeremiah was told not to have a family, lest this happen to him. That would imply that all families would be destroyed. But this scale of devastation simply didn’t happen. Within Jeremiah’s prophecies, there are many different variations on the amount of judgment. The reality was that in wrath, God remembered mercy. See on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>.</p>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh, Don’t enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people, says Yahweh, even loving kindness and tender mercies- Jeremiah was commanded not to make lamentation for the punishment of his people. But he did, and God inspired the record of them in Lamentations, and because they are inspired words, He spoke through those words to all subsequent generations. The reason for this was that God’s covenant, referred to as "kindness and mercy", was broken; they were not at peace withHim. And so they should not be pitied in their death. And yet although the covenant was broken by Israel, and God broke His side of it in response to that::. He in fact still treated them as His covenant people. This is not to say that God is not serious about His statements. He is; but His love, grace and pity is displayed as the more extraordinary, in that it leads Him to break the words and threats spoken in justifiable and understandable wrath. For the same Hebrew phrase "loving kindness and tender mercies" is used again by Jeremiah in <a href='B:310 3:22'>Lam 3:22</a>, where he reflects that these have not been withdrawn from God’s people, even though Zion is now in ruins.</p>


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<p>Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them- When we read that those who were to die in the land due to the Babylonian invasion would not be buried “neither shall men lament for them”, this sounds like a prediction. But actually it’s a command- for Jeremiah was told “Neither go to lament nor bemoan them” (<a href='B:300 16:5'>Jer 16:5</a>). But he did lament them- and God didn’t ignore that, but rather inspired the record of the book of Jeremiah’s Lamentations! Likewise God told Jeremiah not to pray for the people, but when Jeremiah insisted on doing so, God did in fact hear him. So we must be careful to discern what is prediction and what is command or intention. And even then we have to recognize that God’s purpose is to some extent open-ended- if men and women wish to walk with Him but don’t strictly follow His preferred intentions, He may still walk and work with them in the extension of His purpose.</p>


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<h4>neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother- The reason for this lack of mourning and burial may simply be because the idea was that all the people would perish. There would be none left to bury or lament; all were to die. But in reality that didn’t happen (see on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>), and there are various degrees of destruction spoken about in the various prophecies.</h4><h4>’Breaking bread’ or ’eating bread’ is simply an idiom for sharing in a meal (<a href='B:290 58:7'>Isa 58:7</a>; <a href='B:300 16:7'>Jer 16:7</a>; <a href='B:310 4:4'>Lam 4:4</a>; <a href='B:330 17:7'>Eze 17:7</a>; <a href='B:330 24:17'>Eze 24:17</a>; <a href='B:350 9:4'>Hos 9:4</a>; <a href='B:50 26:14'>Deu 26:14</a>; <a href='B:220 42:11'>Job 42:11</a>). ’Bread’ is used for any food, just as ’salt’ is used in the same way in Arabic. The way the Lord broke His bread with sinners, with anyone, is therefore evidence enough that the ’breaking of bread’ is inclusive and not exclusive. LXX "and there shall be no bread broken in mourning for them for consolation over the dead: they shall not give one to drink a cup for consolation over his father or his mother". This refers to how at the funeral, food and gifts were given to a child who lost parents. But there would be none to do so. The "breaking of bread" meeting is therefore set up as a kind of funeral celebration, but also a "cup of consolation".</h4>


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<p>You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink- Because the day was to come when they would all be dead, because of their sins, Jeremiah was not to feast with them before judgment came. The marriages and family events which they were celebrating were to come to a tragic end in the mass destruction of family life by the invaders which has just been predicted. Jeremiah, like us, was to live life now in light of how things were going to ultimately be.</p>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride- This specifically states that it would happen in their days and before their eyes. The image is of a wedding being interrupted by the invaders. This suggests a sudden, unexpected invasion, rather than what happened- a lengthy siege, famine, desperate poverty, all leading towards an inevitable end when Zedekiah fled the city and the Babylonians entered Jerusalem. The sudden nature of Jerusalem’s fall is emphasized (<a href='B:300 4:20'>Jer 4:20</a>; <a href='B:300 6:26'>Jer 6:26</a>; <a href='B:300 15:8'>Jer 15:8</a>; <a href='B:300 18:22'>Jer 18:22</a>); she was to fall as Babylon would "suddenly" fall (<a href='B:300 51:8'>Jer 51:8</a>). Jerusalem fell predictably after a siege, there were no great surprises that she fell. It was not a sudden fall that came out of left field, unexpectedly. And yet that is the implication of the prophecies. Babylon was reveling in prosperity when the Medes unexpectedly took the city; but the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon was totally expected and inevitable. Yet the fall is spoken of as "sudden". It could be that a potential "sudden" invasion and destruction of Jerusalem was projected by God, but the intercession of the few faithful, or the repentance of a tiny remnant, changed this possible outcome of their sin. So many different possibilities of judgment are given, ranging from a quarter destruction to total destruction of people and even all animal life. This reflects the open nature of God’s working with His people, setting up various potentials in order to be fully responsive to human freewill decisions.</p>


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<p>It shall happen, when you shall show this people all these words and they shall tell you, Why has Yahweh pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against Yahweh our God?- The "great evil" had been done by them (<a href='B:300 44:7'>Jer 44:7</a> s:w:), and s the "great evil" of judgment was only an extension of their own sins. And that ought to have been obvious. Repeatedly we encounter this shameless refusal to accept they had done anything wrong, and apparently genuine shock and surprise that God should speak of judging them so severely. This indicates the degree to which they were psychologically hardened in their belief that they could serve the idols as part of serving Yahweh. This is why the reason for their judgments was not simply ’Because you worship idols’, but because of their state of heart (:11,12).</p>


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<p>Then you shall tell them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says Yahweh, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law- This is not to say that they were going to be punished because of the sins of their fathers. I noted on :10 how shameless they were in their idolatry, and how they were genuinely unaware of wrongdoing. But this was because they had become so hardened in sin, as people are today, that they consider that their wrongdoing is in fact righteousness. The reason why that generation was punished was because of this hardened, evil state of heart (:12); not simply because they worshipped idols. Their fathers had done that and had not received the judgment for it which they were going to.</p>


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<p>And you have done evil more than your fathers; for behold, you walk each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you don’t listen to Me- Se on :10,11. The choice was between walking after God’s word (:11), or walking after their own hearts. This is where God’s word is not like any other literature. It is to take a grip upon the human heart and to inculcate a way of thought which is contrary to our own natural heart or thinking. This points up the danger of using the Bible simply to reinforce our own natural ideas, whilst disregarding the rest. "Stubbornness" also can mean "imagination". <a href='B:50 29:19'>Deu 29:19</a> speaks directly of Judah at this time- when they heard the words of the curses for disobedience, they would think they would still have peace because they walked in the imaginations [s:w. "stubbornness"] of their own hearts. The false prophets were preaching exactly such "peace" (<a href='B:300 6:14'>Jer 6:14</a>; <a href='B:300 8:11'>Jer 8:11</a>). The heart [mind] is a fountain of imagination, of fantasy, and it is this which can be redirected by the influence of God’s word and Spirit upon the human heart. But the sense of "stubbornness" in the Hebrew word for "imagination" shows that by exercising our own imaginations without the influence of God’s word, we become set in those ways of thought, until they come to define us.</p>


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<h4>Therefore will I cast you forth out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, where I will not show you favour; and there you shall serve other gods day and night- LXX "and ye shall serve their other gods, who shall have no mercy upon you". Yahweh alone has grace / mercy; this is what distinguishes Him from all forms of idolatry.</h4><h4>The passion and love of God leads Him time and again to apparently contradict Himself. He says that He will cast Judah out of their land, they would go to Babylon and serve other gods there, “where I will not show you favour” (<a href='B:300 16:13'>Jer 16:13</a>). But actually Esther and her people were shown favour there [s:w. <a href='B:190 4:8'>Est 4:8</a>; <a href='B:190 8:5'>Est 8:5</a>]. God was gracious [s:w. ‘show favour’] to those in exile (<a href='B:290 30:18'>Isa 30:18</a>; <a href='B:290 30:9'>Isa 30:9</a>; <a href='B:370 5:15'>Amo 5:15</a>; <a href='B:460 1:9'>Mal 1:9</a>). But Jeremiah 16 goes on to state that God would not ever hide His eyes / face from the iniquity they had committed, i:e. the reason why they were in captivity (<a href='B:300 16:17'>Jer 16:17</a>). But actually He did do just that- He hid His eyes from the sin of Judah and the sin of the exiles (<a href='B:290 65:16'>Isa 65:16</a>); the hiding of His face from them was in fact not permanent but for a brief moment (Isa 548). God then outlines a plan- He will recompense their sin double, and this would lead them back to Him (<a href='B:300 16:18'>Jer 16:18</a>). But this was to be an unrepeatable, once-for-all program that would “cause them to know mine hand… and they shall now that my name is The Lord” (<a href='B:300 16:21'>Jer 16:21</a>). This double recompensing of Judah’s sin happened in the exile in Babylon (<a href='B:290 40:2'>Isa 40:2</a>), and therefore the joyful news was proclaimed to Zion in Isaiah 40 that now the Messianic Kingdom could begin. But there wasn’t much interest nor response to the call to return to Judah in order to share in it. The exile didn’t cause God’s people to repent nor to know His Name. It wasn’t the once-for-all program which He intended. Now none of this makes God out to be somehow not serious or unreliable. Rather is it all an indication of His passion and how deeply He wishes His plans of redemption for us to work out. He’s not ashamed to as it were humiliate Himself, lay Himself open to petty critics, in His passion for us. Thus God was so [apparently] sure that the exile would bring about Judah’s repentance and return to Him: “Thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness” (<a href='B:300 22:22'>Jer 22:22</a>). But actually the very opposite happened. It’s rather like “They will reverence my son” (<a href='B:470 21:37'>Mat 21:37</a>)- when actually they crucified Him.</h4>


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<p>Therefore behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that it shall no more be said, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt- The form of swearing in covenant relationship was to be changed. The same verses occur in <a href='B:300 23:7-8'>Jer 23:7-8</a> in the context of Judah being offered a new covenant, seeing they had broken the old covenant. That new covenant was to be made when the exiles left Babylon and the various nations within her empire where they had been scattered. But this didn’t work out; because Judah refused it.</p>


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<p>But, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where He had driven them. I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers- See on :14. The new covenant was to be made once they left Babylon and the subject nations, just as the old covenant was made once they had left Egypt. There was intended to be some even more dramatic and powerful source of exodus in leaving Babylon than there had been in leaving Egypt. But in reality. nothing like the parting of the Red Sea or the plagues upon Egypt happened. The decree of Cyrus was clearly overruled by God, but other prophecies make it clear that the exodus of the exile was to be associated with the fall of Babylon. Indeed they were to flee Babylon so that they didn’t share in her fall. And it was this dramatic action which was to convert the remnants of the Babylonian empire to Israel’s God. But this didn’t happen; instead this prophetic theme has been reapplied and rescheduled to the events of the last days.</p>


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<h4>Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says Yahweh, and they shall fish them up; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks- This suggests a total regathering of all who were in captivity. This didn’t happen because the exiles preferred the soft life in Persia. The effort made wasn’t responded to. Indeed Jeremiah later laments that the people were "hunted" after Jerusalem fell (s:w. <a href='B:310 3:52'>Lam 3:52</a>; <a href='B:310 4:18'>Lam 4:18</a>). He ought to have realized that the exiles were to be hunted back to the restored kingdom- if they responded. But in his depression, he focused only upon the negative, the glass half empty rather than half full.</h4><h4>And perhaps the prophecy therefore was rescheduled and reapplied to the fishing of individuals to comprise a new Israel. It was whilst Simon and Andrew were in the very act of casting their net into the sea, snap shotted in a freeze-frame of still life, silhouetted against the sea and hills of Galilee, that the Lord calls them to go preaching (<a href='B:480 1:17'>Mar 1:17</a>). The Lord surely intended them to [at least later] figure out His allusion to <a href='B:300 16:14-16'>Jer 16:14-16</a>, which prophesied that fishermen would be sent out to catch Israel and bring them home to the Father. And He called them to do that, right in the very midst of everyday life. His preachers were like harvesters working in the very last hour to bring in the harvest- in fact, the harvest was spoiling because it’s not being fully gathered. No delay for anything was possible in the light of the knife-edge urgency of sharing Christ with others.</h4>


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<p>For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, neither is their iniquity concealed from My eyes- Their sin and breaking of the covenant meant that God would hide His face from them (<a href='B:50 31:17'>Deu 31:17</a>; <a href='B:50 32:20'>Deu 32:20</a>; <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>):&nbsp; But the paradox is that God did not hide His face from their sins, His eyes were upon their ways. He didn’t turn off His sensitivity to behaviour which so sorely hurt Him at His heart; because He desperately wishes to retain relationship for as long as possible, no matter how painful. The iniquity of Israel was not concealed from God’s eyes because He Himself chose not to conceal His face from it.</p>


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<p>First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted My land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled My inheritance with their abominations- The land was literally filled with idols; the sacrifices to them are described as carcasses, which God saw as polluting the land. And so God desired to punish them "double", and so did Jeremiah, because he had the mind and feelings of God (<a href='B:300 16:18'>Jer 16:18</a>; <a href='B:300 17:18'>Jer 17:18</a>). But <a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a> states that God punished them less than their iniquities deserved- and not double punishment. So again we have God, through Jeremiah, speaking in the fire of His anger; but this didn’t actually work out like this. The pole of His pity and grace is finally far stronger than that of His anger and judgment.</p>


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<p>Yahweh, my strength, my stronghold and my refuge in the day of affliction, to You shall the nations come from the ends of the land and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit- This is Jeremiah’s interjection. He is confident that he shall be preserved in the siege which was ahead. God would be his refuge; although his confident faith at this point was sorely tested when he was thrown into the dungeon to die. Jeremiah caught God’s vision, of the repentant nations crossing the borders of Palestine confessing that the idols were lies and vanity. This was the Divine intention- that when Israel and Judah returned from captivity, they would come back to the land along with the repentant peoples of the nations to whom they had been scattered. But instead, they learnt the ways of the nations and worshipped their gods, as Ezekiel often laments.</p>


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<p>Shall a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods?- This is apparently part of the fantasy of Jeremiah and Yahweh concerning the repentance of the surrounding nations and their turning to Yahweh having thrown away their idols. The hope was that they would confess that what a man makes with his own hands cannot therefore be God. For God by His hands has created man. It is the worship of works, of what we have devised by our own device::. which is our modern idolatry. Hence GNB "Can people make their own gods? No, if they did, those would not really be gods".</p>


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<p>Therefore behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh- LXX "I will at this time manifest my hand to them, and will make known to them my power; and they shall know that my name is the Lord". "This once" could suggest that God would do this once and for all, as if the intention was to begin the restored Kingdom there and then. The refusal of the exiles to repent precluded so much potential happening. And likewise the Gentiles continued in their idolatry. If they had repented as envisioned in :19,20, "therefore::. I will cause them to know::. My name". Their repentance would have been followed by a special revelation of Yahweh to them. Having quit what was wrong, His Spirit would have revealed to them what was right. The Name of God is not so much Yahweh or Jehovah, but effectively refers to God’s "hand and might", His actions and characteristics in history.</p>


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<p>The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars- The sin of Judah was written- both on their hearts and in God’s record (<a href='B:300 17:1'>Jer 17:1</a>); their iniquity was "marked before me" (<a href='B:300 2:22'>Jer 2:22</a>). Note how their sin was written both before God and on their hearts. The state of our hearts is actually God’s record of us; "the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord" through which He searches us (<a href='B:240 20:27'>Pro 20:27</a>).</p>


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<p>While their children remember their altars and their Asherim by the green trees on the high hills- The idea is as GNB "Your people worship at the altars and the symbols that have been set up for the goddess Asherah by every green tree and on the hilltops". The number of worship places for the idols was amazingly high; whereas Yahweh worship had only one altar, in the Jerusalem temple. This marked absence of religious paraphernalia in Yahweh worship was to inculcate faith. There was visual symbolism in the tabernacle ritual and temple; but this was to be meditated upon in everyday life, rather than actually physically encountered. God wanted the hearts and minds of His people, far more than acts of external obedience.</p>


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<p>My mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures for a spoil, and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders- Their idols may have been particularly in their borders, for it was from these that they went to the nations surrounding them, seeking relationship and covenants which are portrayed in the prophets as similar to prostitution. The mention of "treasures" could refer to the temple treasures, "my mountain". But it could be that until the drought, Judah had become prosperous under the reforms of Josiah. Yet their wealth is presented as parallel with their sins, which were to be punished by the loss of wealth.</p>


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<p>You, even of yourself, shall discontinue from your inheritance that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don’t know: for you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever- It could be argued that death and remaining dead is in a sense suffering a punishment which has eternal consequences; it is the anger of God forever. But that seems rather forced. I would compare the statement that God’s anger here burns for ever with the statements to the effect that God does not keep His anger for ever (<a href='B:230 103:9'>Psa 103:9</a>; <a href='B:300 3:12'>Jer 3:12</a>; <a href='B:400 7:18'>Mic 7:18</a>). Surely this is how God felt at this time; that He would never get over what they had done, and His anger would continue for ever. This is the emotional God with whom we have to do. Likewise the threat to be discontinued from the inheritance was revised; in that Judah will finally eternally inherit the land. "Discontinue" is however the word used for the land having "rest" in the Sabbath year (<a href='B:330 23:11'>Eze 23:11</a>), and the exile was so that the land might "rest" for all the Sabbath years she had not been rested for (<a href='B:30 26:34'>Lev 26:34</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Yahweh- It could be that the "man" in view is Egypt, upon whom Judah was trusting for deliverance from Babylon- rather than Yahweh. The same words are used in <a href='B:300 5:23'>Jer 5:23</a> of how the people’s heart had departed from Yahweh. Always in the Old Testament it is the state of the heart which is so significant to God; and this continues in the New Testament with the huge focus upon the spirit. The chapter goes on to suddenly condemn the man who seeks to get wealth wrongfully (:11); this would be the man who made flesh- his own flesh- his strength, and filled his mind with ways of doing so.</p>


text:
<p>For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited- The people who trust the flesh or the world for "good" rather than Yahweh will "not see when good comes". The true good that comes only from Yahweh will not be perceived if we are focused all the time upon the "good" we think we can get from trusting in the flesh. We will not perceive the beauty of a sunrise because we are so caught up in hoping that news of a lottery win is about to come through. Such people stay in the land of condemnation ["a salt land"] by their own choice. And so many of the exiles remain in Babylon, failing to perceive the "good" which was being brought about by the "good hand of God" at the restoration (s:w. <a href='B:150 7:9'>Ezr 7:9</a>; <a href='B:150 8:18'>Ezr 8:18</a> etc:). The very phrase "good comes" is used of the good things God would do at the restoration from Babylon (<a href='B:300 32:42'>Jer 32:42</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose trust Yahweh is- So often Yahweh is portrayed as the only "confidence" or trust of His people. Judah’s confidence in nations like Egypt was therefore a betrayal of their relationship with Yahweh. This rejection of trust / hope in foreign alliances is behind this comment that the man who hoped / had confidence in Yahweh alone would be blessed. The immediate context referred to having Egypt and other nations as their hope / confidence (<a href='B:330 29:16'>Eze 29:16</a> s:w:).</p>


text:
<p>For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit- "Drought" is s:w. only in <a href='B:300 14:1'>Jer 14:1</a>. The drought was brought as judgment upon Judah to bring about their repentance; but those who truly trusted in Yahweh (:7) would be unaffected by it in real terms. The "heat" of judgment would not ultimately affect the righteous.</p>


text:
<p>The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?- This has commonly been read as a generic statement about the heart of every man by nature. However, we must remember that whatever we posit about human nature, we posit about the Lord Jesus; who despite having our nature, achieved a state of being holy, perfect and undefiled, and in whose spirit or heart was no guile. But the context is of Jeremiah continually emphasizing Judah’s state of heart as being critically important. See on :5. It was Judah’s heart which was so corrupt; :10 suggests that God could search their hearts and potentially find good things there, but in this case He found only corruption. "Exceedingly corrupt" is the wound used about the "incurable wound" of Judah (<a href='B:300 15:18'>Jer 15:18</a>), which by grace would be healed. It describes a state of mind gotten into, and not how things are by nature within every human being [including the Lord Jesus]. The LXX gives: "The heart is deep beyond all things, and it is the man, and who can know him?". This would explain the parallel in :10 between the man, the mind, the heart and the doings. A man is his mind.</p>


text:
<h4>I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his works, according to the fruit of his doings- The ’testing’ of Judah was to be through melting them in the furnace of Jerusalem, caused by the fire of Babylonian judgment (<a href='B:300 9:7'>Jer 9:7</a>; <a href='B:450 13:9'>Zec 13:9</a>). We learn here that the essential purpose of that was to try / test / purify / reveal their heart and mind; for that was and is of utterly paramount importance to God.</h4><h4>In likely allusion to the descriptions of God searching and trying our hearts in the Psalms, Jeremiah says that we should "search and try our hearts" (<a href='B:310 3:40'>Lam 3:40</a>)- we should seek to know ourselves as God does. David’s invitations to God to search and try him (<a href='B:230 17:3'>Psa 17:3</a>; <a href='B:230 26:2'>Psa 26:2</a>; Psalms 139; Psalms 23) imply he has done so himself (cp. <a href='B:230 77:6'>Psa 77:6</a>). God now searches and tries the hearts, and will [at judgment day] give every man as his work shall be (er 17:10 cp. <a href='B:730 22:12'>Rev 22:12</a>). The spirit of man is [i:e. is intended to be] the candle which God also uses for His examination of men (<a href='B:240 20:27'>Pro 20:27</a>); there is thus a link intended between our self-examination and the way God looks at us. His judgment must be ours. As sin is condemned by Him, so we should examine ourselves to the point of self-condemnation.</h4>


text:
<p>As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool- This warning against materialism and dishonesty in order to gain more wealth continue the warning begun in :5 about not trusting in flesh, even our own flesh. All the idolatry and poor behaviour in Judah was in fact rooted in this desire for quick blessing and wealth. The materialist "at his end [rejection at the judgment] shall be a fool" (<a href='B:300 17:11'>Jer 17:11</a>). The utter folly &nbsp;of the rejected is a major theme (<a href='B:240 14:8'>Pro 14:8</a>; <a href='B:240 14:18'>Pro 14:18</a>; <a href='B:230 5:5'>Psa 5:5</a>; <a href='B:230 49:13'>Psa 49:13</a>; <a href='B:470 7:26'>Mat 7:26</a>; <a href='B:470 25:8'>Mat 25:8</a>). Their folly will be manifest to all- not least themselves (<a href='B:620 3:9'>2Ti 3:9</a>). Parables like that of the rich fool, the foolish virgins::. they will all be crystal clear to them. Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be likened to wise and foolish virgins (<a href='B:470 25:1'>Mat 25:1</a>), after the judgment experience.</p>


text:
<p>A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary- GNB "Our Temple is like a glorious throne, standing on a high mountain from the beginning". This interjection from Jeremiah is out of step with Yahweh’s position about the temple. He has made clear in Jeremiah 7 that it will be destroyed and His sanctuary and glory is in Heaven, not in the temple. Hence Jeremiah’s bitter disappointment in Lamentations when the temple is destroyed. But at least we can say that Jeremiah’s though about God’s glory and throne was in order to lift himself far above the terrible lowness of his immediate theme- men who trust in their own strength to get a little bit more glory and wealth than the man next to them.</p>


text:
<h4>Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be disappointed. Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters- The next verse and the first half of this verse are clearly Jeremiah talking. But the second half of :13 is Yahweh’s response; and it is repeating what Jeremiah has just said in different words and with more detail. We marvel at the dialogue and intimacy possible between God and man. The people Jeremiah had in mind may be his persecutors, for he uses the same word "disappointed" ["ashamed"] about them in :18. Being "written in the earth" may contrast with being written in heaven (<a href='B:650 12:23'>Heb 12:23</a>). But the idea may be that because they forsook the living waters by rejecting Jeremiah’s prophetic word, they would remain written in the dust. The Lord would then be alluding to this when He wrote in the dust when rescuing the woman taken in adultery (John 9). Perhaps He wrote the names of the accusers in the dust, or their names and their own sins. Jeremiah still speaks of Yahweh as "the hope of Israel", as it there were still (in his opinion)&nbsp; true Israel who hoped in their God.</h4>


text:
<h4>Heal me, O Yahweh, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for You are my praise- Jeremiah was perhaps physically ill; but he expresses his affliction in terms of Israel’s being smitten with judgment and then their salvation. Repeatedly, the wound of Judah is described as incurable (Jer 15:18; Jer 30:12; Jer 30:15; Mic 1:9). Only by God’s amazing and paradoxical grace could this be cured. And he had the faith and vision to believe it was possible. He saw himself as representative of the people, even though God had told him that he could not "stand before Me" for Israel in the way other intercessors had. For Israel were just too evil and rebellious against Him. "You are my praise" could mean that Jeremiah solely praised Yahweh, unlike the other Jews who praised various gods along with Yahweh.</h4>


text:
<p>Behold, they tell me, Where is the word of Yahweh? let it come now- As noted on :13, the "they" here refers to Jeremiah’s persecutors who had departed from Yahweh and would be ashamed. Despite the deteriorating situation with regards to Babylon’s strengthening, Egypt’s weakening and the terrible drought, they mocked Jeremiah’s words of judgment. Even though there was every evidence that they were about to come true</p>


text:
<h4>As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you- LXX "But I have not been weary of following thee"; the continual background noise had not made him give up. And that is a thought to inspire us for all time. Or the idea may be that he had continued to try to shepherd and pastor those who so mocked him and God’s word which was in his mouth.</h4><h4>Neither have I desired the woeful day; you know: that which came out of my lips was before Your face- GNB: "LORD, I never urged you to bring disaster on them; I did not wish a time of trouble for them". But the reality was that Jeremiah had done so; indeed he calls for such disaster upon them in :18 "Bring disgrace on those who persecute me, but spare me, LORD. Fill them with terror, but do not terrify me. Bring disaster on them and break them to pieces". He seems to have never quite put this matter straight in his own mind, for in Lamentations, Jeremiah likewise laments the Lord’s actions in judging- when it was Jeremiah who had stated that these things should happen.</h4>


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<p>Don’t be a terror to me: You are my refuge in the day of evil- <a href='B:290 28:15'>Isa 28:15</a>; <a href='B:290 28:17'>Isa 28:17</a> had used this word "refuge" to describe the refuge of lies in which the believers in false prophets and idols trusted. Jeremiah could sense the large scale of destruction to come, but often expresses his faith that somehow he will be saved.</p>


text:
<h4>Let them be disappointed who persecute me, but let not me be disappointed; let them be dismayed, but don’t let me be dismayed- Jeremiah remembered the command not to be dismayed in <a href='B:300 1:17'>Jer 1:17</a> and quotes it back to himself in <a href='B:300 17:18'>Jer 17:18</a>. This is how we should act- quoting scripture to ourselves as encouragement. "Dismay" was a punishment from God upon them but as with all Divine judgments, this was just an extension of what the people had done to themselves. For they had dismayed themselves (<a href='B:300 10:2'>Jer 10:2</a>).</h4><h4>Bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction- God desired to punish them "double", and so did Jeremiah, because he had the mind and feelings of God (<a href='B:300 16:18'>Jer 16:18</a>; <a href='B:300 17:18'>Jer 17:18</a>). But <a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a> states that God punished them less than their iniquities deserved- and not double punishment. So again we have God, through Jeremiah, speaking in the fire of His anger; but this didn’t actually work out like this. The pole of His pity and grace is finally far stronger than that of His anger and judgment.</h4>


text:
<p>Thus said Yahweh to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people through which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem- He was to firstly announce in "the People’s gate", what is now the Jaffa Gate, and then subsequently at every gate of Jerusalem. Any attempt to directly engage the leadership of a nation at war by implicitly criticizing them::. is doomed to many problematic reactions. And so it was for Jeremiah.</p>


text:
<p>And tell them, Hear the word of Yahweh, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates- The leadership ["kings" plural] and common people are paralleled. A leadership do what the masses want, or what they perceive they want. And the masses pressurize the leadership, however subconsciously. This is why the entire society was addressed and was culpable to judgment.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem- The emphasis upon the Sabbath is appropriate because the land is depicted as having missed out on 70 Sabbaths of rest during the period of 490 years from the time of Saul to the captivity. Therefore the land had to rest for 70 years. The Sabbath was the sign of covenant between God and Israel. To not keep it meant to despise the covenant.</h4>


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<h4>Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do any work: but make the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers- Carrying burdens out of their private homes is paralleled with carrying them out of the gates or doors of Jerusalem (:21). Their private behaviour in their own homes was to be repeated on the scale of the whole city.</h4>


text:
<h4>But they didn’t listen neither turn their ear- Inclining or humbling / bowing down the ear means that true response to God’s word ought to be a humbling experience. We cannot come away from engagement with God’s word without being humbled. And this very phrase is used of how God bows down / inclines His ear to human prayer (<a href='B:120 19:16'>2Ki 19:16</a>; <a href='B:230 17:6'>Psa 17:6</a>; <a href='B:230 31:2'>Psa 31:2</a>; <a href='B:230 71:2'>Psa 71:2</a> and often). We see here the mutuality possible between God and man, and the interplay between Bible reading andGod’s response to our prayers. We speak to God in line with our understanding of His word, and He responds to our prayers. Bible reading and prayer therefore mesh together in the Christian life, as part of the upward spiral of spirituality. God is not silent to our prayers- He reveals Himself in response through His word.</h4><h4>But made their neck stiff that they might not hear and might not receive instruction- The instruction given and refused was the previous incursions of Judah’s enemies and the drought God had brought upon them (<a href='B:300 2:30'>Jer 2:30</a>; <a href='B:430 3:7'>Zep 3:7</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>It shall happen, if you diligently listen to Me, says Yahweh, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein- I noted on :22 the difference between carrying burdens out of the city, and out of their own homes. It seems that if on the level of the city it was obeyed, even if some individuals refused, then God would have restored the Kingdom.</p>


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<p>Then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever- If they had kept the Sabbath etc. as required, then the temple would have been a joyous center of worship. The language is clearly to be connected with other descriptions of the Messianic Kingdom. And this indicates that Ezekiel 40-48 is likewise a conditional prophecy. If they didn’t carry anything out of the gates, then into the gates would come the Messianic rulers. Not carrying things out meant not trusting in their own works. If they accepted God’s work rather than their own, and were obedient to the Sabbath as the sign of the covenant::. then it seems that a form of the Messianic, restored Kingdom could have then begun permanently. To be obedient to the Sabbath regulations was not a big issue; and so much, even "forever", could have been achieved. They were that close, but their refusal to respond to such simple requirements indicated so much about them.</p>


text:
<p>They shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, meal offerings and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of Yahweh- This is the scene of Ezekiel 40-48. If Judah had been obedient, then they would have built and sacrificed in the temple there described. But they didn’t.</p>


text:
<h4>But if you will not listen to Me to make the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day- The offer of an eternally established city was predicated upon simply obeying this painless law about the Sabbath (:25). Their refusal to do it would therefore speak volumes- it would be tantamount to saying that they didn’t want the things of God’s Kingdom. Hence the severe judgment.</h4><p>Then will I kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched- The prophetic word in Jeremiah’s mouth was like fire, and it was the people who were to be "devoured" by it (<a href='B:330 15:5'>Eze 15:5</a>; s:w. <a href='B:300 5:14'>Jer 5:14</a>; <a href='B:300 17:27'>Jer 17:27</a>; <a href='B:300 21:14'>Jer 21:14</a>). The amazing grace explained in Ezekiel 15 was in the fact that the ’devoured by fire’ vine twig would be refined in Babylon and still used by God to reestablish His Kingdom.</p><h4>The Bible is written from a Jewish perspective; the Gentile reader is ‘expected’ to understand that Gehenna and the concept of “eternal fire” are Jewish idioms for total destruction (<a href='B:300 17:27'>Jer 17:27</a>; <a href='B:720 1:7'>Jud 1:7</a>). Although see on :4. Again, the point has to be made that much misunderstanding has arisen in ‘Christian’ circles on the issue of hell through failing to appreciate that God is writing in Jewish terms. The New Testament is literally packed with phrases and other language which depend on an appreciation of Old Testament theology to make sense of (e:g. Christ calling himself “the bread of life”). Nowhere, however, are we explicitly told that we must understand the New Testament’s language by reference to the Old. We need to keep all these points in mind when considering the language of demons.</h4>


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<p>The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying- It has been truly commented about this chapter: “Whenever a piece of pottery turned out&nbsp; imperfect the potter would take the clay and make it into something else. God says that this is the principle behind His actions. If He says He is going to build up a nation but the nation disobeys Him the prophecy will not be fulfilled. Equally, if He says He is going to destroy a nation and thenation repents, He will not carry out His intention”. Hence if Israel turned from their way, "I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them" (<a href='B:300 26:3'>Jer 26:3</a>). Earlier Israel had known God’s breach of promise, the altering of His purpose, in that those who were to enter Canaan actually didn’t (<a href='B:40 14:34'>Num 14:34</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words- The revelation of God’s truth often requires an initial act of obedience, in this case, going to the potter’s house. "Potter" is the same word first used in <a href='B:10 2:7'>Gen 2:7</a> about God forming Adam from the dust. Clearly God is the potter or former, both of individuals and nations. The word is repeatedly used in later Isaiah of how God formed Israel, and would form them again as a new creation upon their return from exile in Babylon (<a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 45:9'>Isa 45:9</a>; <a href='B:290 64:8'>Isa 64:8</a> etc:). Jeremiah had been reminded at the start of his ministry that he personally had been formed by God (<a href='B:300 1:5'>Jer 1:5</a>). It is also used of how God "frames" or literally ’potters’ evil or good in the life of His collective people (:11). The ’going down’ could suggest there was a potter who worked in the valley near the temple; <a href='B:450 11:13'>Zec 11:13</a> suggests there was a potter who worked there or even within the temple. And the potter’s field was effectively purchased with the blood of Christ, for Judas spent that blood money on buying the potter’s field, this one which Jeremiah visited. See on <a href='B:300 19:2'>Jer 19:2</a>.</p>


text:
<h4>Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels- To ’make a work’ is literally ’to work a work’ and is the language of creation (<a href='B:10 2:2-3'>Gen 2:2-3</a>). On :2 I noted the word for "potter" is that used in the Genesis creation (<a href='B:10 2:7'>Gen 2:7</a> etc:). So there was the hint here at a new creation. The only other time we find the Hebrew word translated "wheels" is in <a href='B:330 1:16'>Eze 1:16</a> of the birthing stools upon which women gave birth- another hint at new creation.</h4><h4>’Working the work’ is a phrase very often used about the restoration of Jerusalem (<a href='B:160 4:16-17'>Neh 4:16-17</a>; <a href='B:160 4:21'>Neh 4:21</a>; <a href='B:160 6:3'>Neh 6:3</a>; <a href='B:160 6:9'>Neh 6:9</a>; <a href='B:160 6:16'>Neh 6:16</a>; <a href='B:160 11:12'>Neh 11:12</a>; <a href='B:160 13:10'>Neh 13:10</a>; <a href='B:440 1:14'>Hag 1:14</a> etc:). The Kingdom could have been restored and a new creation come about from the exiles. But this too was not to happen. The clay misbehaved in the hands of the Divine potter. In the immediate context here, the term has just been used of how Judah ’worked work’ on the Sabbath (<a href='B:300 17:22'>Jer 17:22</a>; <a href='B:300 17:24'>Jer 17:24</a>), instead of allowing God to work. Not working their own work, keeping the Sabbath, was a sign of covenant relationship with God. God wanted to use people who could not ’work work’ (<a href='B:330 15:3'>Eze 15:3</a>; <a href='B:330 15:5'>Eze 15:5</a>). To trust in their own works and not allow His working was therefore effectively a breaking of covenant relationship.</h4>


text:
<p>When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made of it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it- "Marred" has a moral dimension to it, translated "corrupt" in <a href='B:10 6:11-13'>Gen 6:11-13</a>, where the corrupt eretz had to be destroyed. The Jews were "corrupted" (<a href='B:300 6:28'>Jer 6:28</a> s:w. "marred"). It is the word used about how the linen girdle of Jeremiah was "marred" in figurative captivity in Babylon (<a href='B:300 13:7'>Jer 13:7</a>; <a href='B:300 13:9'>Jer 13:9</a>), and yet that marred girdle was still going to be used. And we have that same message here; Judah was to be destroyed / marred because they had marred themselves, but then a new nation was to be created. What "seemed good to the potter" is again a creation allusion; for God saw what He had made and it seemed very good to Him.</p>


text:
<p>Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying- This interpretation may have come immediately as Jeremiah watched the potter, or somewhat later after he had had time to work it out for himself; in which case this subsequent revelation was only confirming him in his own conclusions.</p>


text:
<p>House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter? Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel- God has prepared us exactly to respond to His hand. We were born at a certain point in time, formed / pottered by Him with our prehistory, gene pool history etc:, so that we can respond. Any lack of response to His hand is therefore highly culpable. God could work a new vessel from the clay of Judah, as He wanted to do in the time of Moses. By grace He didn’t totally destroy them, didn’t grab a new piece of clay, but rather tried to rework the existing clay. Even though in <a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a> God had said that His hand would now destroy Israel. But in fact He attempted to rework them.</p>


text:
<h4>At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation or kingdom- God had earlier "in an instant" (s:w:) stated that He would immediately destroy Israel (<a href='B:20 33:5'>Exo 33:5</a>; <a href='B:40 16:21'>Num 16:21</a>; <a href='B:40 16:45'>Num 16:45</a>), but this didn’t happen because of Moses’ intercession. Ezra perceived the connection, using this word to speak of how "for a little moment" (s:w:) the exiles had a chance to change the verdict. God speaks, but there is a gap between the statement and the fulfillment. We all live within that gap, as Judah were- and there is therefore an intensity to the need for repentance to change the otherwise certain outcome.</h4><h4>To pluck up and to break down and to destroy it- The ’plucking up’ is the word used of how Judah would be plucked up out of their land for their disobedience to the prophetic word (<a href='B:50 29:28'>Deu 29:28</a>; <a href='B:140 7:20'>2Ch 7:20</a>). And as the Gentiles plucked up / out Israel from their land, so those nations would be plucked up (<a href='B:300 12:14-15'>Jer 12:14-15</a>; <a href='B:300 12:17'>Jer 12:17</a>). Likewise the building and planting specifically refers to the restoration of Israel after their plucking up (<a href='B:300 24:6'>Jer 24:6</a>; <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 31:40'>Jer 31:40</a>; <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>). It was God through His word who would do these things; but that possibility worked through the preacher and proclaimer of that word. Therefore in <a href='B:300 1:10'>Jer 1:10</a>, Jeremiah is presented as the one who would do these things. This is the enormous power delegated to all to this day who preach His word; we really can save people, plant them in the Kingdom by sowing the seed of the Kingdom; and those who refuse will be plucked up.</h4>


text:
<h4>If that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them- Jeremiah’s message as the Babylonian armies approached Jerusalem had stressed that if the Jews repented, then God would repent of the evil He was planning to bring upon them (<a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a>; <a href='B:300 18:10'>Jer 18:10</a>; <a href='B:300 26:3'>Jer 26:3</a>; <a href='B:300 26:13'>Jer 26:13</a>). The Jews did not repent, and so Jerusalem was taken and Zedekiah deported. Even at this thirteenth hour, God said to the Jewish forces that remained at arge outside Jerusalem and who were about to flee to Egypt: "If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down. . . for I repent Me of the evil that I have done unto you""(<a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>). What a God we have! Although Israel had not repented, the Angel repented to the extent of changing His pre-requisite for repenting of bringing more evil on them. And so God changed this from returning wholeheartedly to the Law, to merely remaining in the land of Israel rather than fleeing to Egypt. What of us? <a href='B:300 31:18-19'>Jer 31:18-19</a> tops all for such encouragement:"Turn thou Me (said Ephraim), and I shall be turned. . . I (God in the Angel)&nbsp; was turned, I repented"- and therefore God repented too! God was prepared to relent (<a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a>; <a href='B:300 26:3'>Jer 26:3</a>; <a href='B:300 26:13'>Jer 26:13</a>; <a href='B:300 26:19'>Jer 26:19</a>; <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>), and yet He says in <a href='B:300 4:28'>Jer 4:28</a> that He will not. This is not self-contradiction, but rather a reflection of the depth of how God’s compassion is finally greater than His judgment of sin. The whole mental and emotional trauma made God weary of all the relenting, so deeply did He feel it (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>).</h4><h4>Due to Moses’ prayer, “the Lord repented of the evil which he had said he would do unto his people” (<a href='B:20 32:14'>Exo 32:14</a> RV). Yet these are the very words of <a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a> - if a nation repents, then God will repent. But in this case, God accepted the singular prayer of Moses.</h4>


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<p>At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation or kingdom, to build and to plant it- This was the case with the people of Judah. God had promised to build and plant them in a restored, Messianic kingdom in Israel (<a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>; <a href='B:330 36:36'>Eze 36:36</a>). But this was all conditional upon them continuing to obey His voice, otherwise He would change His plans (<a href='B:300 18:9-10'>Jer 18:9-10</a>). Jeremiah had been given the power to speak the words of both destruction and building and planting (<a href='B:300 1:10'>Jer 1:10</a>).</p>


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<p>If they do that which is evil in My sight, that they not obey My voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them- This is exactly what happened in <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>. The remnant left in the land could have been built and planted, into a new restored Kingdom of God in Israel. But they fled into Egypt.</p>


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<p>Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return you now each one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings-"Frame"is the word translated"potter"in :2. The call to repentance was intensely individual, to"each one"."Devise a device"is the very phrase used of how Judah’s response to this was to"devise a device", to make a plot, to kill Jeremiah and stop his words, as they thought, from coming true (:18). This was perversity in the extreme. They thought they could match God’s plot with their own. No wonder they could not be further worked with.</p>


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<p>But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart- They preferred their thoughts or devices to God’s (:11). Whether or not they said these words, this was how God read their hearts, as saying these words. The choice was between walking after God’s word, or walking after their own hearts. This is where God’s word is not like any other literature. It is to take a grip upon the human heart and to inculcate a way of thought which is contrary to our own natural heart or thinking. This points up the danger of using the Bible simply to reinforce our own natural ideas, whilst disregarding the rest."Stubbornness"also can mean"imagination". <a href='B:50 29:19'>Deu 29:19</a> speaks directly of Judah at this time- when they heard the words of the curses for disobedience, they would think they would still have peace because they walked in the imaginations [s:w."stubbornness"] of their own hearts. The false prophets were preaching exactly such"peace"(<a href='B:300 6:14'>Jer 6:14</a>; <a href='B:300 8:11'>Jer 8:11</a>). The heart [mind] is a fountain of imagination, of fantasy, and it is this which can be redirected by the influence of God’s word and Spirit upon the human heart. But the sense of"stubbornness"in the Hebrew word for"imagination"shows that by exercising our own imaginations without the influence of God’s word, we become set in those ways of thought, until they come to define us.</p>


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<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh: Ask now among the nations, who has heard such things; the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing- No god of the nations made such huge effort with their people. It was all supposedly a simplistic matter of yes / no obedience, and receiving blessings or cursings. Yahweh was far more complex in His workings, andalways seeking to save and bless His people despite their disobedience. But they refused even that."The virgin of Israel"leads us to expect that the"very horrible thing"she did was an act of immorality, sexual unfaithfulness to their God. And that is indeed how the term is always used elsewhere (<a href='B:300 5:30-31'>Jer 5:30-31</a>; <a href='B:300 18:13'>Jer 18:13</a>; <a href='B:300 23:14'>Jer 23:14</a>; <a href='B:350 6:10'>Hos 6:10</a>). By forming alliances with other nations and serving their gods, they had been unfaithful to the God who wanted to marry them; for that is the implication of a virgin being unfaithful.</p>


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<p>Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?- It ought to have been natural for Israel to respond to such amazing grace and love; but their refusal of it was as unnatural as gushing melt water on a slope suddenly drying up. Likewise any refusal of God’s love is a conscious fighting against Him, clay resisting His forming hand.</p>


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<h4>For My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to false gods- The allusion is to <a href='B:50 32:18'>Deu 32:18</a>, where Israel"forgot God who formed you", and we have shown on :2 that a"potter"is literally a ’former’. But Israel claimed to worship Yahweh; yet they forgot or were oblivious to the real implications of Him. We too can go through a semblance of worship whilst having effectively forgotten our God.</h4><h4>And they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up- At the restoration, these rocky paths were to be made smooth. <a href='B:290 57:14'>Isa 57:14</a> teaches that a level way must be made amongst the Jewish people, i:e. the stumbling blocks and ‘valleys’ must be removed from their path. “Cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people” is therefore a command to God’s people to undo the generations of false shepherding which Israel have experienced: “They have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up” (<a href='B:300 18:15'>Jer 18:15</a> s:w. “cast…up” in <a href='B:290 57:14'>Isa 57:14</a>). Once we have prepared the way in this sense, then the highway is in place over which the Lord Jesus will return. This is how vital our work is for the Jewish people.</h4>


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<p>To make their land an astonishment and a perpetual hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished and shake his head- But the land was not perpetually mocked. As explained on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>, many remained in the land and it was not left totally desolate. In wrath God remembered mercy, and there is also the factor of intercession and repentance of a minority to be taken into account.</p>


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<h4>I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity- This is what was done to the Egyptians at the Red Sea, driven back by an east wind. God showed them His back, so that they were in darkness and could not reach the Israelites. But out of that destruction there was to arise a new people, redeemed from Babylon after the pattern of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. That was the Divine hope and program, although it never really came true at that time as it could have done.</h4><h4>At the time when Moses doubts whether he really has found grace, the God who speaks to Moses face to face then turns and shows Moses only His back parts (<a href='B:20 33:11'>Exo 33:11</a>; <a href='B:20 33:20'>Exo 33:20</a>; <a href='B:20 33:22'>Exo 33:22</a>). This is alluded to in <a href='B:300 18:17'>Jer 18:17</a> and there interpreted as being a sign of God’s anger- to turn away His face and show His back parts. God was so angry with Moses’ disbelief in His grace. And that was the problem with Judah at this time.</h4>


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<p>Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words-"Devise a device"is the very phrase used in :11 of God’s device to destroy Israel. But Judah’s response to this was to"devise a device", to make a plot, to kill Jeremiah and stop his words, as they thought, from coming true. They satisfied themselves that Jeremiah was a false prophet, and the false prophets were the true prophets. They considered Jeremiah a renegade priest; the priests’ duty was to teach God’s word, and the rest of the priests taught the ords of the false prophets in the name of Yahweh. <a href='B:330 7:26'>Eze 7:26</a> alludes to these words, saying that the law would perish from these priests.</p>


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<h4>Give heed to me, Yahweh, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me- Jeremiah was aware of what they were saying, perhaps because God revealed it to him in :18. He asks for his words to be heard, and also the words of his enemies. This is an example of where our situation is heard by God as a prayer. The words of our enemies are heard as if they are words addressed to God, requiring Him to respond to them. We therefore shouldn’t be so steamed up about them.</h4>


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<h4>Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your wrath from them- Seeing the world through the eyes of both God and man- Jeremiah said that God’s wrath was his wrath, “I am full of the wrath of God” (Jer 6:11), and yet he stood before God “to turn away thy wrath from them” (Jer 18:20). Hence the huge psychological tension within the prophets. ‘Standing before the Lord’ refers to prayer- Psa 106:23; Ezr 9:15; Jer 15:1; Jer 18:20. To live a life standing before the Lord is to live a life of prayer. Hence David and Paul say that prayer can be continual- in that life becomes a lived out prayer, with the practice of living in the presence of God. And straight away we ask ourselves, in lives just as busy as those of David and Paul, whether our self-talk, our minute by minute inner consciousness, is “before the Lord”::. or merely the sheer and utter vapidity of the modern mind. Jeremiah’s intercession for those who hated him was heard by God, and He turned away His wrath from them. And yet they sought to kill Jeremiah. This was typical of the work and experience of the Lord Jesus.</h4>


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<p>Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless and widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men struck of the sword in battle- When Jeremiah’s wishes here came true, he spends the book of Lamentations lamenting it, referring to these very words. We must be so careful what we pray for, especially if it is imprecation against others, lest it come true. He therefore lamented his own prayer at length.</p>


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<p>Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You shall bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet- The sudden nature of Jerusalem’s fall is emphasized (<a href='B:300 4:20'>Jer 4:20</a>; <a href='B:300 6:26'>Jer 6:26</a>; <a href='B:300 15:8'>Jer 15:8</a>; <a href='B:300 18:22'>Jer 18:22</a>); she was to fall as Babylon would"suddenly"fall (<a href='B:300 51:8'>Jer 51:8</a>). Jerusalem fell predictably after a siege, there were no great surprises that she fell. It was not a sudden fall that came out of left field, unexpectedly. And yet that is the implication of the prophecies. Babylon was reveling in prosperity when the Medes unexpectedly took the city; but the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon was totally expected and inevitable. Yet the fall is spoken of as"sudden". It could be that a potential"sudden"invasion and destruction of Jerusalem was projected by God, but the intercession of the few faithful, or the repentance of a tiny remnant, changed this possible outcome of their sin. So many different possibilities of judgment are given, ranging from a quarter destruction to total destruction of people and even all animal life. This reflects the open nature of God’s working with His people, setting up various potentials in order to be fully responsive to human freewill decisions.</p>


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<h4>Yet, Yahweh, You know all their counsel against me to kill me- They falsely claimed prophetic revelation to kill Jeremiah as he was a false prophet (:18; see on <a href='B:300 19:7'>Jer 19:7</a>.</h4><h4>Don’t forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from Your sight; but let them be overthrown before You; may You deal with them in the time of Your anger- When Jeremiah’s wishes here came true, he spends the book of Lamentations lamenting it, referring to these very words. We must be so careful what we pray for, especially if it is imprecation against others, lest it come true. He therefore lamented his own prayer at length. Jeremiah here is the very opposite of Moses, who pleaded that the people who despised him would have their sin blotted out. And yet Jeremiah also comes over as at times far too positive about Israel, complaining that God’s judgments were too harsh. He may have been bi-polar, or simply going through the mood swings that were perhaps inevitable to anyone who was representative of both God and Israel. And his internal conflict between these two poles, of judgment and grace, also reflected those within God, as brought out in Hosea, where His"repentings"are unbearable for Him (<a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a>). See on <a href='B:300 20:13'>Jer 20:13</a>.</h4>


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<p>Thus said Yahweh, Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests- This meant a return visit to the potter of <a href='B:300 18:2'>Jer 18:2</a>. The priests he took with him may well have been his own relatives, and those of <a href='B:300 18:21-23'>Jer 18:21-23</a> who were intent upon killing Jeremiah because his message about the potter hit home too hard. And now he was asked to repeat such teaching, to this same group.</p>


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<p>and go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you- I suggested on <a href='B:300 18:2'>Jer 18:2</a> that it was in a muddy part of this valley that the potter was working and had his field. LXX has"read"for"proclaim", suggesting these words of prophecy were given to Jeremiah and he or Baruch wrote them down before he read them out. The"gate Harsith"is GNB"The potsherd gate". The gate which led to the valley of Hinnom was known by this name because potters worked there, and the fragments of their broken vessels, remnants of pottery projects that hadn’t worked out, were strewn around the place."Harsith"is literally"potsherd". All this spoke of the broken projects of so many of God’s people; and their worship of idols in that valley of the potter was the cause for all the failures. No wonder this same valley where rubbish such as potsherds were thrown and burnt, known in the New Testament as Gehenna, became the Lord’s symbol of choice for total destruction of those who fail to be formed by God into His chosen vessels.</p>


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<p>and say, Hear the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle- God is repeatedly presented as the ultimate source of"evil". There is no radical evil in the cosmos outside of His control. There is no cosmic Satan figure; all"evil"is under His control, and performed by His Angelic"armies"manifested through human armies used by them, as the Babylonians were at this time.</p>


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<p>Because they have forsaken Me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods that they didn’t know, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents-"Know"in its Hebraic sense refers to relationship. They worshipped gods with whom they had no relationship, even if (as explained on <a href='B:300 14:1-5'>Jer 14:1-5</a>) they ’knew’ and learnt how to worship them, they did not"know"them in terms of relationship. No idol of whatever form can provide the genuine, dynamic relationship which is possible between Yahweh and His people.</p>


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<p>and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal; which I didn’t command, nor spoke it, neither came it into My mind- God describes the word which He inspires as coming into His mind- as if it occurs to Him, and then He inspires men with it. Although God is outside time, this mustn’t lead us to conclude that He is somehow static and unfeeling; He reveals Himself as accommodating Himself to men to the extent that He has feelings of joy at the moment of our repentance (consider the Father rushing out to the returning son) and sorrow and anguish at the times of our apostasy (consider the Almighty"rising early and sending"the prophets). Although He is outside time, yet He limits His omniscience (as He evidently limits His omnipotence). It could even be that although He could see every possible future and foresee our behaviour well before our birth, He somehow ignores this possibility. This is why He is described as being disappointed at Israel’s level of response to His love, shocked at their sins, surprised at their perversions (e:g. <a href='B:300 19:5'>Jer 19:5</a>; <a href='B:300 32:35'>Jer 32:35</a>).</p>


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<p>therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter- LXX:"This place shall no more be called, The fall and burial-place of the son of Ennom, but, The burial-place of slaughter". The valley of Hinnom was known from before the Israelites entered Canaan (<a href='B:60 15:8'>Jos 15:8</a>), so Ennom must have been a Canaanite who died there, perhaps ’fell’ in battle there, and was buried there. Instead of commemorating the fall of the Canaanites, it would now remember the fall of the Israelites there.</p>


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<p>I will nullify the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth- In the very place of idol worship, there was false teaching. This was because the priests and false prophets were in league (<a href='B:300 18:18'>Jer 18:18</a>) and their specific counsel was to murder Jeremiah (<a href='B:300 18:23'>Jer 18:23</a>). They falsely claimed prophetic revelation to kill Jeremiah as he was a false prophet (<a href='B:300 18:18'>Jer 18:18</a>). It was the men of Anathoth, Jeremiah’s home town, his own relatives who were also priests, who sought his life (<a href='B:300 11:21'>Jer 11:21</a>). Their punishment was to be that the Babylonians would seek their lives, and slay them What they intended to do to Jeremiah would be done to them. But in a low moment, Jeremiah lost his faith in this (see on <a href='B:300 20:10'>Jer 20:10</a>).</p>


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<p>I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues- The hissing and mocking was because Jerusalem had been praised in David’s psalms (e:g. <a href='B:230 48:2'>Psa 48:2</a>; <a href='B:230 50:2'>Psa 50:2</a>) as the joy of the whole earth and perfect in beauty (<a href='B:310 2:15'>Lam 2:15</a>). Those Psalms of David were well known; for David after the Bathsheba incident had vowed to preach the good news of Yahweh’s grace to the entire world. He had done so through his Psalms. His music ministry had been successful; the nations knew the songs about Zion being the joy of the whole earth and the perfection of beauty. And so they mocked it as it lay in ruins.</p>


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<p>I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat each one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, shall distress them- This was more relevant to AD70 than to the Babylonian siege. This was because these prophecies were reapplied and rescheduled to the Romans, as they will likewise come to their ultimate term in the last days.</p>


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<p>Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you- The religious and civil leadership (:1).</p>


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<h4>and shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel- The world will be broken to shivers,"as the vessels of a potter"(<a href='B:730 2:26'>Rev 2:26</a>). But this is in fact quoting Jeremiah’s words concerning the breaking of the individual believer who is rejected at the last day (<a href='B:300 18:4-6'>Jer 18:4-6</a>; <a href='B:300 19:11'>Jer 19:11</a>). The point of the Lord’s quotation is surely that those He rejects will share the world’s condemnation.</h4><p>That can’t be made whole again- The broken earthen bottle which was smashed couldn’t be made whole again- apparently. But the miracle of grace was that like the useless burnt vine branch of Ezekiel 15 and the marred linen girdle buried by the Euphrates, the smashed bottle, like Ezekiel’s dry bones vision, could be made whole again. The stripes upon the suffering servant could ’heal’ Israel (s:w."made whole", <a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>). Jeremiah had preached as much, that being made whole again was possible (<a href='B:300 3:22'>Jer 3:22</a>; <a href='B:300 30:17'>Jer 30:17</a>; <a href='B:300 33:6'>Jer 33:6</a> s:w:). The rhetorical question of <a href='B:310 2:13'>Lam 2:13</a>"Zion::. who can heal you / make you whole again?"(s:w:) had its answer in Yahweh.</p><h4>And they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury- I have noted several times that the prophesied judgments in Jeremiah differ from each other; he has also predicted that there would be such mass destruction that there would be nobody to bury the dead, for all would be slain (<a href='B:300 14:16'>Jer 14:16</a>). But <a href='B:300 19:11'>Jer 19:11</a> speaks of burying bodies in Topheth. These different scenarios didn’t all come true. There were various prophetic options, according to the exact measure of Israel’s repentance and Jeremiah’s intercession; or perhaps, simply according to the pity which Yahweh would finally show this sinful people.</h4>


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<p>Thus will I do to this place, says Yahweh, and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth- All the once holy city would become as the burial place in Topheth. The Jews had always been careful to bury bodies outside of the city, lest it be defiled; but the whole city would become a place of dead bodies.</p>


text:
<p>and the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods- As noted on :12, the Jews had always been careful to bury bodies outside of the city, lest it be defiled; but the houses within the city would become full of dead bodies. Those houses had been built on the back of fraud. They would be destroyed along with the temple, and the historical records of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem emphasize that the"great houses"were also destroyed. We note too the extent of their idolatry; not just in Topheth, but on the roofs of their private homes. They were like a sexually obsessedwoman; they worshipped every possible idol or god, hoping for some material benefit from it.</p>


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<p>Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of Yahweh’s house and said to all the people- LXX"And Jeremias came from the place of the Fall". The sin of Judah is presented as that of Adam, and the way Zedekiah flees to the east and Judah are sent out of the land to the east continues the similarities.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear My words- The significance of bringing the evil pronounced is in the fact that&nbsp; God speaks, but there is a gap between the statement and the fulfillment. We all live within that gap, as Judah were- and there is therefore an intensity to the need for repentance to change the otherwise certain outcome. But they had stiffened their neck. To really hear God’s words requires humility, a bowing of the neck, and a willingness to change the well trodden paths of habitual reactions, a softness and flexibility which doesn’t come naturally.</p>


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<p>Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things-"Pashhur"means ’liberated’. This may well have been his title; he was preaching liberty to act as they naturally wanted. God’s response was to proclaim a liberty to the sword and to destruction for such people (<a href='B:300 34:17'>Jer 34:17</a>). He was the equivalent of the New Testament false prophets who taught that we can continue in sin that grace may abound (<a href='B:520 6:1'>Rom 6:1</a>). See on <a href='B:300 21:1'>Jer 21:1</a>.</p>


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<p>Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Yahweh- In this Jeremiah was a type of the Lord Jesus, indeed more than this- Jeremiah might have been a potential Messiah figure of some sort, but Judah rejected him. The way the servant is beaten and has his hair pulled out (<a href='B:290 50:4-11'>Isa 50:4-11</a>) reminds us of how the prophet Jeremiah was treated the same way by the Jews when his message was rejected (<a href='B:300 20:2'>Jer 20:2</a>; <a href='B:300 37:15'>Jer 37:15</a>)."Stocks"is LXX"dungeon".</p>


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<p>It happened on the next day, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib- LXX"Not Pashhur, but Exile":&nbsp; GNB"Terror everywhere"connects with :4,"I will make you a terror::.". And the same phrase is used in :10; the terror everywhere would be due to Pashhur. He appears to have been the chief false prophet and is singled out for particular mention and condemnation.</p>


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<h4>For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends- As noted on :3, this was to be the meaning of his new name, hence he was a terror to himself.</h4><h4>And they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword- As explained on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>, not"all Judah"went to Babylon, in fact only a minority of them. Again we see God’s pole of pity and grace overpowering the pole of judgment within His personality. But the tension and struggle between those poles were very real for Him, as they were within His representative Jeremiah.</h4>


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<p>Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon- This alludes to Isaiah’s words to Hezekiah, that all his wealth and royal descendants would be taken to Babylon as punishment for his pride and refusing to act as the intended Messianic ruler of the restored kingdom was meant to. And yet here the fault for that is blamed upon Pashhur and those who believed him. We reflect how all God’s actions and judgments are a careful calculation, taking multiple factors into account, and are far from being a swipe in anger at those who displease Him.</p>


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<p>You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely-&nbsp; We wonder why Pashhur wasn’t killed but died having seen the suffering and death of those to whom he had falsely prophesied. This was likely extra punishment for the man; to have died by the sword in Jerusalem would have been a lesser judgment. And this is how the condemnation of the wicked will work out at the last day; the grades of punishment will be in terms of seeing the result of their actions, rather than in degrees of heat or torture as classically imagined:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<h4>Yahweh, you have seduced me, and I was seduced; You are stronger than me, and I am overcome: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me- See on <a href='B:330 14:9'>Eze 14:9</a>. Despite the unity of spirit between God and the prophets, the prophets weren’t always forced to say the words. Jeremiahdidn’t want to say them at times, the weariness of it all got on top of him; and yet he felt unable to walk away, just as God felt with Israel. But there were times when he outright rebelled. <a href='B:300 20:7'>Jer 20:7</a> is made a mess of in most translations, because the obvious translation is simply too shocking. Jeremiah complains: “O Lord, thou hast seduced me [s:w. <a href='B:20 22:16'>Exo 22:16</a> of a man seducing a woman], and I am seduced; thou hast raped me [s:w. <a href='B:50 22:15'>Deu 22:15</a>] and I am overcome” (Rabbi Abraham Heschel’s translation). Here is Jeremiah saying that he was attracted by God, he was seduced by Him, but then the whole thing became too much- he felt his soul had been raped. And yet in <a href='B:300 15:16'>Jer 15:16</a> he says that he had found God’s word and eaten it, and as a result, “I am called by thy name, O Lord”- the language of a woman marrying and taking her husband’s name (<a href='B:290 4:1'>Isa 4:1</a>). The word of God was his “joy [and] delight”- two words used four times elsewhere in Jeremiah, and always in the context of the joy of a wedding (<a href='B:300 7:34'>Jer 7:34</a>; <a href='B:300 16:9'>Jer 16:9</a>; <a href='B:300 25:10'>Jer 25:10</a>; <a href='B:300 33:11'>Jer 33:11</a>). Jeremiah saw his prophetic task as actually a marriage to God, an inbreathing of His word and being, to the point that he could say that he personally was “full of the wrath / passion of God” (<a href='B:300 6:11'>Jer 6:11</a>). A prophet could only be incensed if God was incensed (<a href='B:40 23:8'>Num 23:8</a>)- such was the bond between them. No wonder these men felt alone amongst men. They had a relationship with God which others couldn’t enter into, which totally affected their lives and beings. The preacher / testifier of Jesus knows something of this spirit of prophecy. But in <a href='B:300 20:7'>Jer 20:7</a>, Jeremiah felt he had been raped and not married. He resented the complete takeover of his heart. See on :10.</h4><h4>If we stick with the translation"deceived", then we conclude that Jeremiah feared God had deceived him (<a href='B:300 20:7'>Jer 20:7</a> AV)- showing he knew such a thing was possible. <a href='B:50 13:1-3'>Deu 13:1-3</a> warns Israel not to believe prophets whose prophecies came true although they taught false doctrines, because they may have been raised up to test their obedience.</h4>


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<h4>For whenever I speak, I cry out Your word- LXX"For I will laugh with my bitter speech"sounds as if Jeremiah is sarcastically saying that he will laugh along with his mockers. His attitude seems so bitter and resentful of his being mocked that it is not altogether correct.</h4><h4>I cry, Violence and destruction! But the word of Yahweh is made a reproach to me and a derision all the day-"Reproach::. and a derision"is quoting verbatim from <a href='B:230 44:13'>Psa 44:13</a>; <a href='B:230 79:4'>Psa 79:4</a>, which speak of how God’s people became just this because of their sins. Jeremiah identifies with Israel, and yet feels that this is how he is treated by Israel. And he clearly minded it; he was very sensitive to being mocked. Yet through this experience he was enabled to identify with how Israel were to be made to their neighbours. Nothing is ever wasted in the Divine ecology.</h4>


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<p>If I say, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name; then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can’t- This could as well be translated as meaning that Jeremiah did decide not to make mention of Him nor speak any more. We get the impression that at this point he had had enough, he was a reluctant if not rebellious prophet. And yet because the writing of God’s Word is a result of God’s will rather than human desire, he was “carried along by the Holy Spirit” so that he had no choice in the matter. Peter describes this idea of the Bible writers being ‘carried along’ with the same Greek word used in <a href='B:510 27:17'>Act 27:17</a>; <a href='B:510 27:27'>Act 27:27</a> about a ship being ‘driven’ by the wind, out of control. <a href='B:400 2:7'>Mic 2:7</a> comments that truly inspired prophets can’t be stopped from speaking forth God’s word, because God’s Spirit controlling them can’t be constrained. Those men were truly ‘carried along’. And yet in Jeremiah’s case, he was also willing, and his spirit was that of God on so many points. Perhaps therefore it was not that he was irresistibly forced to prophesy; the fire he felt within may not simply have been that of Divine inspiration forcing him, but the passion he felt for his people, which made him return to being a willing mouthpiece.</p>


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<h4>For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side-"Terror everywhere (GNB) / on every side"is one meaning of"Magormissabib "in :3. The terror to come upon Judah was partly because of their defamation of Jeremiah, who had spoken God’s word to them.</h4><p>Denounce, and we will denounce him, say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall-&nbsp; LXX"Conspire ye, and let us conspire together against him". But Jeremiah has just been assured that all such plots would come to nothing (<a href='B:300 18:18'>Jer 18:18</a>; <a href='B:300 18:23'>Jer 18:23</a>; <a href='B:300 19:7'>Jer 19:7</a>). In this low moment he appears to have lost his faith in that promise, although it returns in :11. His"familiar friends"were literally those of his family, the men of Anathoth, his fellow priests (<a href='B:300 11:21'>Jer 11:21</a>).</p><h4>Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him- Clearly Jeremiah was being set up in some kind of trap, being persuaded to say or so things which would ensnare him. The language here of traps and faithless"familiar friends"is that of the Messianic Psalms. His heart was clearly in those Psalms, and this makes him even more a type of Christ."Persuaded"is the same word as"seduced"in :7. He felt on one hand seduced by God, and then bitterly disappointed; and yet seduced by the false prophets too, although he resisted that. Possibly some kind of sexual seduction was offered to him.</h4>


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<h4>But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one-"Awesome mighty one"is literally ’an oppressor’. Jeremiah felt at times that God had seduced him and taken him over (:7) and he apparently resented that. His language seems inappropriate, but he speaks so often in depression and states his feelings without much apparent effort at self-controlling them.</h4><p>Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely- This was exactly as promised in <a href='B:300 18:18'>Jer 18:18</a>; <a href='B:300 18:23'>Jer 18:23</a>; <a href='B:300 19:7'>Jer 19:7</a>. But in :10 Jeremiah temporarily lost his faith in this and despaired. He is so human and so imaginable.</p><h4>Even with an everlasting dishonour which shall never be forgotten- Eternal shame is a common condemnation of the wicked. Seeing they will be long dead and gone, it is us, the accepted, who by God’s grace will recall the terrible shame of the rejected throughout our eternity. Their shame will be so terrible; and hence their anger will likewise be.</h4>


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<h4>But, Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind- The ’testing’ of Judah was to be through melting them in the furnace of Jerusalem, caused by the fire of Babylonian judgment (<a href='B:300 9:7'>Jer 9:7</a>; <a href='B:450 13:9'>Zec 13:9</a>). We learn here that the essential purpose of that was to try / test / purify / reveal their heart and mind; for that was and is of utterly paramount importance to God.</h4><p>Let me see Your vengeance on them- But when he did see this, he bitterly laments over it, in Lamentations. We must be careful what we ask for, lest we receive it. There is more information about Jeremiah’s feelings about his persecutors at <a href='B:300 20:10-12'>Jer 20:10-12</a>. The book of Jeremiah isn’t arranged chronologically, and it seems <a href='B:300 11:20'>Jer 11:20</a> refers to the same time as <a href='B:300 20:10-12'>Jer 20:10-12</a>.</p><h4>For to You have I revealed my cause- The fact God sees and knows all means that we might as well open our lives up before Him in prayer and meditation. Jeremiah"revealed my cause"before the Lord because he knew that God"tests the heart and the mind". This may be why men like Jeremiah were somewhat ’rough’ with God; whatever they felt about God, they told Him. They so knew that God knew their thoughts::. there was and is no point in saying fine words to God in prayer, whilst feeling harder about Him in ones heart."Revealed my cause"is legal language, used also in <a href='B:300 11:20'>Jer 11:20</a>. He feels that his prayer is an approach to the throne of God, and he seeks justice and judgment from Him- vengeance on his false accusers. Prayer is indeed a foretaste of the judgment; we come boldly before the throne of grace just as we shall likewise come boldly before that throne at the last day</h4>


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<p>Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh; for He has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers- This is typical of the almost bi-polar nature of Jeremiah; ecstatic praise after desperation and almost collapse of faith earlier in this chapter, and then in the next verse, having suicidal thoughts. Maybe he was not bi-polar but simply going through the mood swings that were perhaps inevitable to anyone who was representative of both God and Israel. And his internal conflict between these two poles, of judgment and grace, also reflected those within God, as brought out in Hosea, where His"repentings"are unbearable for Him (<a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a>). See on <a href='B:300 18:23'>Jer 18:23</a>.</p>


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<p>Cursed is the day in which I was born: don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed- <a href='B:300 20:14-18'>Jer 20:14-18</a> is quoting from the depression of Job in <a href='B:220 3:3-12'>Job 3:3-12</a>. Whilst Jeremiah was in a sense wrong to have these suicidal thoughts, and was denigrating his own ministry which was from God, even in those low moments he turned to Biblical precedent. He recalled there was another man who had been betrayed by his friends and misrepresented by them.</p>


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<p>Cursed is the man who brought news to my father saying, A boy is born to you; making him very glad- The quotation from <a href='B:220 3:3-12'>Job 3:3-12</a> is not exact. We wonder whether Jeremiah had only verbally recalled from memory those words, hence the discrepancies; or whether he was quoting from an earlier version which under inspiration was edited during the exile into its current form.</p>


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<p>Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and didn’t relent: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime- This is alluding to Sodom and Gomorrah. It seems an awful imprecation to bring down upon the head of an innocent messenger of decades previously. Jeremiah here surely is in depression, quoting Job’s depressed words without pausing to put meaning into those words. We have noted often how he does this about his enemies, and then in Lamentations laments how his imprecations actually came true.</p>


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<p>because God didn’t kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great- This idea that the naturally aborted child remained within the mother is of course medically inaccurate, but the Bible doesn’t carry inspired footnotes which point out the scientific inaccuracies of the recorded statements. We need to remember this when we encounter the language of demons being used to describe mental illness and their cure in the New Testament.</p>


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<p>Why came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?- GNB"to end my life in disgrace?". God had promised to preserve Jeremiah’s life, so this is definitely Jeremiah in weakness. But this ’end of life’ may refer to his plans to commit suicide. He was a man called to do God’s work, as we all are. His despising of his life is therefore deeply wrong. But it is recorded as comfort for us as we reflect upon words written or spoken in depression. Just as Job’s words quoted here were not held against Job, and at the end he is commended for having spoken rightly about God. It seems that God does cut some slack to the feelings of depressed people. And we should likewise.</p>


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<p>The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest saying- We noted on <a href='B:300 20:3-6'>Jer 20:3-6</a> that Jerusalem’s judgments were blamed upon Pashhur son of Immer. This is probably the same as this Passhur ben Malchijah. It seems too unusual that two men of the same name occur in two chapters which follow on from each other. This man had a huge role to play in the false prophecies. That Zedekiah should send this false prophet to Jeremiah to ask for God’s true word, and to ask him to pray for the people::. would indicate that at best Zedekiah was out of touch, and yet more realistically it seems Zedekiah went along with a plan by Pashhur to get Jeremiah to say things for which they would further condemn and punish him."Malchijah"is literally"Yah’s king". It could be that this person was both in the kingly line and also the priestly line (<a href='B:300 20:1'>Jer 20:1</a>). He could have been the Messianic king-priest of the restored Kingdom; but he chose not to be. This would explain the extraordinary condemnation of him in Jeremiah 20.</p>


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<p>Please inquire of Yahweh for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us: perhaps Yahweh will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, that He may go up from us- This is the typical human tendency, to ask someone else to pray for us, to engage with God on our behalf. God wanted to deal directly with Israel, speaking personally to them; but they wanted Moses to go and talk with Him and then tell them. We see the same mentality in <a href='B:110 13:6'>1Ki 13:6</a>; <a href='B:510 8:28'>Act 8:28</a>. It is classic religion, and is on the opposite pole of personal relationship with God which the Bible seeks to inculcate. We note that they are now recognizing that Egypt is not going to help them; Ezekiel pictures them as a prostitute now desperately going to all and any man for help against Babylon, and that included going to Yahweh. Perhaps this incident is after the battle of Carchemish when Egyptian military power was destroyed by Babylon."All His wondrousworks"is quoting <a href='B:20 3:20'>Exo 3:20</a> of Yahweh’s deliverance of the people from the Egyptians. They were aware of Yahweh’s historical salvation, and were asking for it to be repeated. But they were to be treated like Egypt, and smitten along with their animals with a great plague (:6):&nbsp;</p>


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<p>Then Jeremiah said to them, You shall tell Zedekiah- We might imagine that his response could have been that God had told him not to pray for them. But God does respond, although not with the message they expected and hoped for.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who besiege you without the walls- This continues the great prophetic theme that all human strength and military technology is brought down beneath God’s judgment. See on :13.</h4><h4>And I will gather them into the midst of this city- The implication is that God is within the city, the shekinah glory was still present in the temple according to Ezekiel’s visions. And yet instead of this meaning that they would therefore have the protection of their God, He would in fact gather the besiegers into the city,"into the midst"of it, that is to Zion, the temple itself.</h4>


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<p>I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, wrath and great indignation- This contradicts the common understanding that a national god, or the god of a city, would always fight for and not against that people or city; for to do otherwise would seem so illogical, to as it were destroy himself. But the God of Israel was so different; He would Himself fight against His own people, city and nation. And this implied that He would do so to His own personal hurt and loss. His wrath was therefore not painless for Him. It was the duty of the priests to discharge their office so that there would not be the"indignation"of Yahweh against His people (<a href='B:40 1:53'>Num 1:53</a>; <a href='B:40 18:5'>Num 18:5</a> s:w:). This statement is therefore tantamount to saying that the priesthood had not done their work. Jeremiah was himself a priest; no wonder his own relatives, who were also priests, were so incensed against him."Anger::. wrath::. and indignation"is a quote from the curses for breaking the covenant (<a href='B:50 29:28'>Deu 29:28</a>).</p>


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<p>I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and animal: they shall die of a great plague- It seems that one prophetic scenario was that God would create"a great [specific] plague"which would destroy both people and animals within Jerusalem. As noted on :2, the people thought God would deliver them as He had Israel from Egypt; but they were to be treated like the Egyptians, to whom they had returned in their hearts and whom they had looked to for deliverance from Babylon. And yet it seems that this particular scenario didn’t happen; there is no mention of such a great plague. In wrath God remembered mercy, or chose to work through one of the other possible paths of judgment which Jeremiah has elsewhere outlined. All the time we see God’s flexibility and openness to working with men.</p>


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<p>Afterward, says Yahweh, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even such as are left in this city from the plague, from the sword and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy- I noted on :6 that this"great plague"which was to destroy most of the people and animals in the city didn’t apparently happen. And likewise the remnant were not all killed by the sword nor were all the people taken to Babylon (see on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>). Zedekiah wasn’t slain by Nebuchadnezzar, but rather died in captivity (<a href='B:300 52:11'>Jer 52:11</a>). Perhaps he repented; or God chose to work out another path of judgment with Zedekiah which would achieve more glory for Him and His objectives than simply having him slain by the sword. The statement that Nebuchadnezzar would not show him"pity nor have mercy"and not spare him was therefore not fulfilled; because he was reflecting the God who had also said He would not spare or pity, but yet He did:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<h4>To this people you shall say, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death- Although they had broken the covenant (see on :5), they are now invited to see themselves as facing again the choice of accepting or rejecting it. For these are the words which God presented to Israel as they entered the land (<a href='B:50 31:27'>Deu 31:27</a>). Even at this point there was the possibility that they could enter a reestablished land and Kingdom of God.</h4><h4>As Yahweh was with Moses- not just in power, but in wondrous patience and gentleness- so He will be with us too. Not only did God encourage Joshua to see himself as in Moses’ shoes; He inspired Jeremiah likewise (<a href='B:300 21:8'>Jer 21:8</a> = <a href='B:50 30:15'>Deu 30:15</a>; <a href='B:50 30:19'>Deu 30:19</a>), and Ezekiel (<a href='B:330 2:3'>Eze 2:3</a> = <a href='B:50 31:27'>Deu 31:27</a>; <a href='B:160 9:17'>Neh 9:17</a>; <a href='B:40 17:10'>Num 17:10</a>); and He wishes us to also see Moses’ God as our God. But if Moses’ God is to be ours in truth in the daily round of life, we must rise up to the dedication of Moses; as he was a faithful steward, thoroughly dedicated to God’s ecclesia (<a href='B:650 3:5'>Heb 3:5</a>), so we are invited follow his example (<a href='B:530 4:2'>1Co 4:2</a>; <a href='B:470 24:45'>Mat 24:45</a>).</h4>


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<p>He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey- The prediction of death by plague in <a href='B:300 21:6'>Jer 21:6</a> was therefore conditional. Those prophetic words need not have come true if Israel had been obedient to this call to surrender."Passes over"is literally"to fall down". They were to accept their condemnation, and thereby save their lives. Their lives would be to them"for a prey", literally, as booty taken from a conquered city. This was and is the great paradox- that surrender, acceptance of defeat, was the great spiritual victory. In the future, at the Lord’s return, we will be saved from wrath (i:e. condemnation) through Christ (<a href='B:520 5:9'>Rom 5:9</a>). Whilst this has already been achieved in a sense, it will be materially articulated in that day- in that we will feel and know ourselves to be worthy of God’s wrath, but then be saved from it. We are all to some extent in the position of Zedekiah and the men of Judah, who was told that if they accepted God’s condemnation of them as just, and served the King of Babylon, then they would ultimately be saved; but if they refused to accept that condemnation, then they would be eternally destroyed (<a href='B:300 21:9'>Jer 21:9</a>; <a href='B:300 27:12'>Jer 27:12</a>). And the Babylonian invasion was a type of the final judgment.</p>


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<p>For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good, says Yahweh: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire- A pagan god looked after his own people against their enemies. But Yahweh of Israel sent and empowered Israel’s enemies against them, and gave them victory against His own people; He encamped against His very own people (<a href='B:290 29:2-4'>Isa 29:2-4</a>). The archenemy of Israel, Assyria, was revealed as a rod in the God of Israel’s hand (<a href='B:290 10:5'>Isa 10:5</a> etc:), and the King of Babylon was Yahweh’s servant who would come against Yahweh’s own people (<a href='B:300 25:9'>Jer 25:9</a>; <a href='B:300 27:6'>Jer 27:6</a> etc:). The will of Israel’s God was that the capital city, seen by the people as the symbol and nerve center of a god’s power and control, was to be destroyed by Israel’s enemies (<a href='B:300 34:1-5'>Jer 34:1-5</a>; <a href='B:300 21:3-7'>Jer 21:3-7</a>). In the surrounding culture of Israel, capital cities were portrayed as women, the wives of the gods. They are always presented as pure and wonderful. But the prophets represent cities like Jerusalem and Samaria as fallen women, whores. It was all so counter-cultural. Yahweh’s prophet even appealed for Israel to surrender when under siege (<a href='B:300 21:8-10'>Jer 21:8-10</a>). Try to enter into how radical and counter-cultural all this was. The prophets were trying to share the feelings and positions of a God so vastly different to the imaginations and understandings of His very own people. The nervous stress of this, the psychological pressure, can’t be underestimated. And we are asked to share the spirit / mind / disposition of those prophets. Not only was God on the side of Israel’s enemies; yet through all that, He somehow was with Israel; quite simply, “God is with us”, even though it is He who encamps against them too (<a href='B:290 8:9-10'>Isa 8:9-10</a>; <a href='B:290 18:4'>Isa 18:4</a>). The God of Auschwitz is somehow still the God of Israel. The very torment, even torture, of understanding that was etched clearly in the prophets, and it will be in us too.</p>


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<p>Touching the house of the king of Judah, hear the word of Yahweh- The family of Zedekiah were guilty of injustice and abusing people (:12), and he clearly was involved in this himself. He was not simply weak minded and manipulated by his courtiers; he was himself guilty.</p>


text:
<h4>House of David, thus says Yahweh, Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor- They went into captivity because the princes and priests oppressed the people (<a href='B:300 22:3'>Jer 22:3</a>; <a href='B:300 22:17'>Jer 22:17</a>); in the new temple, this was not to be so (<a href='B:330 45:8'>Eze 45:8</a>). And yet, in Nehemiah’s time the princes of the people did again oppress them, e:g. through making them mortgage their lands to them. This is the tragedy of Israel’s refusal to learn… The intention was that they would “bear the punishment of their iniquity… that the house of Israel go no more astray” (<a href='B:330 14:11'>Eze 14:11</a>):&nbsp;The call to execute justice"in the morning"may not simply refer to how courts were typically held in the morning; it could be an urgent call to immediately reform, from tomorrow morning:&nbsp;They were acting as"the oppressor"to God’s people, and so they too were to be oppressed by the Babylonians (<a href='B:300 50:33'>Jer 50:33</a> s:w:). How they treated their brethren was directly related to how they would be treated in their judgment, and this principle applies for all time.</h4><h4>Lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings- At the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry, the implication was that the wrath could be quenched still (<a href='B:300 4:4'>Jer 4:4</a>); but the time would come when it could not be. By the time of <a href='B:300 7:20'>Jer 7:20</a>, God was saying that His wrath could no longer be quenched (as <a href='B:120 22:17'>2Ki 22:17</a>; <a href='B:140 34:25'>2Ch 34:25</a>). And yet even after this point, God still speaks as if it could be quenched by repentance (<a href='B:300 21:12'>Jer 21:12</a>). Even to the point of self-contradiction, God was so eager to have His wrath quenched. And this God is our God. His eagerness for human repentance should be reflected in our attitudes, both to others and to our own sins. Breaking relationship with people by casting them out of fellowship is not reflective of that.</h4>


text:
<p>Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley and of the rock of the plain, says Yahweh; you that say, who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter into our habitations?- LXX"that dwellest in the valley of Sor". It could be that :13,14 speak of the judgment of Moab in similar terms to <a href='B:300 48:8'>Jer 48:8</a>; <a href='B:300 48:21'>Jer 48:21</a> and they have become added here out of place. Yet :14 can be clearly understood as referring to Jerusalem. But GNB likely has the sense right:"You, Jerusalem, are sitting high above the valleys, like a rock rising above the plain. But I will fight against you. You say that no one can attack you or break through your defense". This continues the theme that all human might and apparent advantage is as nothing before God’s judgment; see on :4. These were likely the words of the false prophets, who taught [as some evangelicals do today] that Jerusalem is inviolate and will always be protected by Yahweh. But that is to argue on the level of mere religion and not spirituality. God’s historical actions against Jerusalem clearly show that she is not inviolate.</p>


text:
<p>I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Yahweh; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is around her- Jerusalem being like a forest destroyed by a forest fire is the language of <a href='B:290 9:18'>Isa 9:18</a>. The"forest"of Jerusalem may refer to the temple, famed for its cedar paneling from the forests of Lebanon&nbsp; (see on <a href='B:450 11:1'>Zec 11:1</a>). The prophetic word in Jeremiah’s mouth was like fire, and it was the people who were to be"devoured"by it (<a href='B:330 15:5'>Eze 15:5</a>; s:w. <a href='B:300 5:14'>Jer 5:14</a>; <a href='B:300 17:27'>Jer 17:27</a>; <a href='B:300 21:14'>Jer 21:14</a>). The amazing grace explained in Ezekiel 15 was in the fact that the ’devoured by fire’ vine twig would be refined in Babylon and still used by God to reestablish His Kingdom.</p>


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<p>Thus said Yahweh: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word saying- This ’going down’ could reflect the coming down of Yahweh in judgment. It was ’down’ from the Temple on the eastern hill of Jerusalem to the king’s house, which was on lower ground.</p>


text:
<p>Hear the word of Yahweh, king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates- That the king still sat on David’s throne was a reminder of the potential still possible; see on :4. The appeal is carefully made not just to the king and his courtiers, but also to all the people; or at least to all the people who entered the gates of the king’s house. The guilt for what was to happen is continually expressed as being far more than merely with the leadership</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place- Because they oppressed Gentiles, therefore they were to be oppressed by them (<a href='B:50 28:29'>Deu 28:29</a>; <a href='B:50 28:33'>Deu 28:33</a>; <a href='B:300 50:33'>Jer 50:33</a> s:w:). Their judgments were appropriate to their sins. Innocent blood was shed in the temple; it was there that the idols were worshipped and child sacrifice made. They had made the temple as a den of robbers (<a href='B:300 7:11'>Jer 7:11</a>), and these two ideas are found in <a href='B:330 18:10'>Eze 18:10</a>:"If he fathers a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and who does any one of these things". These were all things going on at the time of Ezekiel. The exiles needed to repent of these things. These actual things had been practiced by the ruling classes who were now in exile with Ezekiel. The same word is used to express how the Jerusalem temple had been turned by the priests into a"den of robbers"or oppressors (<a href='B:300 7:11'>Jer 7:11</a>; <a href='B:300 22:3'>Jer 22:3</a>). Jeremiah as a priest is addressing the leaders of the priests. One reason Judah was destroyed was because Manasseh was a ’shedder of blood’ (<a href='B:120 21:16'>2Ki 21:16</a>; <a href='B:120 24:4'>2Ki 24:4</a>). Perhaps this was being focused upon by some, complaining that God was unfairly punishing them for Manasseh’s sins. But the reality was that in essence, his descendants and wider family had done the same as he had done. For they too had been involved in the shedding of the innocent blood of their own children to the idol cults (<a href='B:230 106:38'>Psa 106:38</a>).</p>


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<p>For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people- But the gates were to be burnt with fire, because Israel “would not”. To as it were incite their repentance, God makes the offer that if they there and then repented of the abuses of :3, then He would establish a Messianic kingdom. The king who then sat on David’s throne (:2) would become a Messianic style king, fulfilling the Messianic kingdom prophecy of <a href='B:290 66:20'>Isa 66:20</a>. Perceiving how near and real the Kingdom can be for us ought to elicit repentance. They were really close here at this point; and yet they refused, so hardened were they in the paths of continual sin.</p>


text:
<p>But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, says Yahweh, that this house shall become a desolation- The most solemn and binding form of oath possible (<a href='B:650 6:13-18'>Heb 6:13-18</a>). They could have the Messianic kingdom there and then (:4); or the destruction of the king’s palace ["this house"of :1,2] and all they once held dear. The destruction of the"house", both the royal palace and family, meant an end to any hopes of the line of David continuing. At least for then. They had come to a T-intersection where they had to decide; whereas we would likely have just punished them for their sins and considered that their just desert.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to Me, the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited- God still found them so attractive, even though they had sinned awfully, building their"house"by abusing labourers (:13) and had to be destroyed. This was love itself. There is a parallel between"the house of the king"and the"cities"; the repentance of a minority, the royal family, could have led to the restoration of all Judah, and their continuance in sin meant the mass destruction of it. The entire society were guilty, and were not punished just because of the sins of the royal family; the masses did not suffer because of the sins of the minority. But God was prepared to work the other way around; the repentance of a minority could lead to blessing for a majority of sinners. This willingness of God in this regard came to its acme in the salvation of sinners for the sake of the obedience of just one man, His Son. And yet even though they did not repent, the"cities", perhaps an intensive plural for the one great city, Jerusalem, did not become literally a wilderness. The temple and great houses were burnt, but some people still lived there, such as the local inhabitants encountered by Ezra when he returned to rebuild.</p>


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<p>I will prepare destroyers against you, each one with his weapons; they shall cut down your choice cedars and cast them into the fire- These were the cedars of Lebanon which God had found so attractive (:6)."Prepare"is literally ’sanctify’. Within the worldview of the attackers, they had sanctified their war against Judah in the names of their gods (s:w. <a href='B:300 6:4'>Jer 6:4</a> s:w:). But God worked through that, Himself sanctifying or preparing these men. The false prophets were wrong to claim that Jerusalem and the temple were sanctified by God and were therefore inviolate; God would sanctify the destroyers and their weapons so that it would all be destroyed:&nbsp;</p>


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<p>Many nations shall pass by this city and shall say every man to his neighbour, Why has Yahweh done thus to this great city?- This quotes <a href='B:50 29:24'>Deu 29:24</a>, a curse for breaking the covenant (:9), and alludes to the specific judgment upon the temple (<a href='B:110 9:8'>1Ki 9:8</a>). There is no particular example of this oft repeated curse coming true, apart from in <a href='B:310 2:15'>Lam 2:15</a>, which appears to be spoken by Jeremiah in deep grief, and does not include the words predicted here and in :9. The actual destruction of Jerusalem and Judah was not as extensive as threatened; either God took pity, or there was a modicum of intercession or repentance which ameliorated the extent of the judgment. And that would explain why neither in the Bible nor other history is there any record of this happening</p>


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<p>Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them- See on :8. The idea was that the destroyed city and temple would be a silent witness to the power of Yahweh, and how this God who kept covenant was now as it were ’free’ as His earlier people had betrayed Him and left Him without a people. The deserted city and ruined temple would therefore have been an invitation to observers to seek this Yahweh, and enquire whether they could enter a new covenant with Him, seeing His previous covenant with His people had been broken and He was now, as it were, unattached.</p>


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<p>Don’t weep for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away into exile; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country- Perhaps Jeremiah spoke these words in relation to a prominent funeral or memorial service for the dead, presumably that of Josiah who was killed trying to support the Egyptians against Babylon.</p>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: He shall not return there any more- Shallum is the same as Jehoahaz. Perhaps he is called Shallum because that word means ’The one marked out for judgment’. See on :12. I explain on <a href='B:330 4:6'>Eze 4:6</a> that potentially, the captivity of Judah need only have lasted for 40 days or years, but this period was extended, just as it could have been reduced. But Jehoahaz was not going to experience this, he had precluded any reduction in his captivity period because of his impenitence at that time.</p>


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<p>But in the place where they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more- The false prophets were claiming that his exile was going to be very short lived and he would return to establish a Messianic kingdom, thus twisting the prophecies of the restoration which Jeremiah may have already given, along with those of Isaiah which were already extant.</p>


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<p>Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbour’s service without wages, and doesn’t give him his hire- Jehoiakim had already demanded from his people a heavy tribute to the king of Egypt (<a href='B:120 23:35'>2Ki 23:35</a>), whom he trusted in instead of in God; and now like Solomon he exacted forced labour from his own people so that he might have a luxurious palace built for himself. The prophets weren’t just empty moralizers, bleating on about the state of the nation; their words are an assault of the mind and conscience. Amos speaks of judgment to come in dramatic terms ‘just’ because creditors sold their debtors into slavery just to recover the cost of a pair of shoes (<a href='B:370 2:6-7'>Amo 2:6-7</a>). <a href='B:300 22:13-19'>Jer 22:13-19</a> is a long and passionate condemnation of Jehoiakim for building an extension to his house, using his neighbours as workmen and not giving them the agreed wages. We see this sort of thing all the time. And shrug and think it good fortune it didn’t happen to us. But that’s not the spirit of prophecy.</p>


text:
<p>who says, I will build me a wide house and spacious rooms, and cuts him out windows; and makes a ceiling with cedar, painted with vermilion- This obsession with building his own house recalls that of Solomon. The only other mention of"vermilion"is in <a href='B:330 23:14'>Eze 23:14</a> where this is what was used to portray images of the idols upon the walls of the Jerusalem temple. The temple was famed for its cedars (:7), and so it was as if he was turning his house into an imitation temple. A"wide"house is literally a house built by measure, and this is the phrase used about the construction of the temple (<a href='B:110 7:9'>1Ki 7:9</a>; <a href='B:140 3:3'>2Ch 3:3</a>)."Rooms"is the term used for the"chambers"(s:w:) of the temple."Cut out"or ’rendered’ windows are what were intended for the temple of the restored kingdom (s:w. <a href='B:330 40:25'>Eze 40:25</a>; <a href='B:330 40:29'>Eze 40:29</a>; <a href='B:330 40:33'>Eze 40:33</a>; <a href='B:330 41:16'>Eze 41:16</a> etc:). This is the classic path of apostasy- to justify the worship of our own home and luxury in the name of worshipping God.</p>


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<h4>Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar?- The temple was famed for its cedar work (:7), and so it seems that by making his own house similar to the temple, the king was thinking that this would make his house and dynasty likewise inviolate. But this was mere religious tokenism.</h4><h4>Didn’t your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him- He made the classic mistake of all materialists, thinking that he proved himself the rightful king by the degree of his ostentation and luxury. The implication could be that Josiah experienced all things"well with him"whilst he did justice; but when he started laying politics and supporting Egypt against Babylon, he no longer experienced this but rather died in shame. His trust in Egypt and human strength was therefore associated with no longer seeking justice for people. The two strands of thought and behaviour go together. For it is trust in God and not flesh which elicits justice in our behaviour towards others.</h4>


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<p>He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Wasn’t this to know Me? says Yahweh- See on :15. To know Yahweh means to have a relationship with Him and to respond in practice. This is the Hebraic sense of ’knowing’ a person. The Jews of those times had done what many believers do today- assume that an intellectual knowledge of God and external ritualism is the same as knowing God. But it is our attitudes to the poor and needy which are the knowledge of God which the Bible has in view.</p>


text:
<h4>But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it- The reason why the poor and needy were abused by the king was that he and his fellow rulers were covetous. Oppression, abuse and violence all flowed from an attitude of heart. Innocent blood was shed, referring not only to the babies sacrificed to fertility gods in the hope of better harvests and therefore more wealth, but death sentences were inflicted in return for bribes. The already wealthy king wanted yet more wealth. The acquisition of wealth is an addiction.</h4><h4>And so they went into captivity because the princes and priests oppressed the people (<a href='B:300 21:12'>Jer 21:12</a>; <a href='B:300 22:3'>Jer 22:3</a>; <a href='B:300 22:17'>Jer 22:17</a>); in the new temple, this was not to be so (<a href='B:330 45:8'>Eze 45:8</a>). And yet, in Nehemiah’s time the princes of the people did again oppress them, e:g. through making them mortgage their lands to them. This is the tragedy of Israel’s refusal to learn… The intention was that they would “bear the punishment of their iniquity… that the house of Israel go no more astray” (<a href='B:330 14:11'>Eze 14:11</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: they shall not lament for him saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! They shall not lament for him saying Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!- This is structured as poetry, as if a mock funeral lament. Jeremiah uttered this prophecy during Jehoiakim’s lifetime (<a href='B:300 1:3'>Jer 1:3</a>). To so stridently criticize a king at the gates of his own palace was a brave thing to do. No wonder it brought Jeremiah such opposition; indeed it was but by God’s protection that he was not murdered.</p>


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<p>He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem- &nbsp;Jehoiakim was not to be buried but his body thrown out to the elements, like an ass (<a href='B:300 22:18-19'>Jer 22:18-19</a>; <a href='B:300 36:29-31'>Jer 36:29-31</a>); but the idiom of “he slept with his fathers” (<a href='B:120 24:6'>2Ki 24:6</a>) may imply that he had a more normal burial. This was a conditional prophecy.</p>


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<p>Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers are destroyed- Abarim was the mountain range in the south and Lebanon that in the north. Throughout the entire land, including the former territory of the ten tribes, Jeremiah was to travel with the message:&nbsp; that all Israel’s lovers, the nations surrounding her to whom she had prostituted herself in return for promises of support against Babylon, were to be destroyed.</p>


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<p>I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your way from your youth, that you didn’t obey My voice- Before the drought of Jeremiah 14 came (and the book of Jeremiah isn’t arranged chronologically), Judah were prosperous; as prosperous (s:w:) as Sodom before she was destroyed (<a href='B:330 16:49'>Eze 16:49</a>). Prosperity is directly related to refusing to hear God’s word (<a href='B:50 32:15'>Deu 32:15</a>); so we should be surprised if we as believers are relatively prosperous, and should consider this condition an exception rather than the rule in the lives of believers.</p>


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<h4>The wind shall feed all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity- The false prophets claimed to be full of the wind / Spirit of God, but they would be filled with the wind which would carry them away. And one by one, the"lovers", the nations whom Judah hoped upon for salvation from Babylon, would be overcome by her and taken into captivity. This ought to have been warning as to what would happen to her, but they refused to hear the voice of God speaking to them through observed experience of their neighbours. His voice speaks to us like that today.</h4><h4>Surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness- Just as the Father thought that His people “surely” would reverence His Son, so He was‘certain’ that if His people went to Babylon in captivity, “surely then you will be ashamed… for all your wickedness”. But the reality was that they grew to like the soft life of Babylon and refused to obey the command to return to God’s land. Such was and is the hopefulness of God. The exile didn’t cause God’s people to repent nor to know His Name. It wasn’t the once-for-all program which He intended. Now none of this makes God out to be somehow not serious or unreliable. Rather is it all an indication of His passion and how deeply He wishes His plans of redemption for us to work out. He’s not ashamed to as it were humiliate Himself, lay Himself open to petty critics, in His passion for us. Thus God was so [apparently] sure that the exile would bring about Judah’s repentance and return to Him: “Thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness” (<a href='B:300 22:22'>Jer 22:22</a>). But actually the very opposite happened. It’s rather like “They will reverence my son” (<a href='B:470 21:37'>Mat 21:37</a>)- when actually they crucified Him.</h4>


text:
<p>Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!- As in <a href='B:450 11:1'>Zec 11:1</a>, the cedars of Lebanon in the temple resulted in the temple being called"Lebanon". The Jews thought that the temple was inviolate and that they could take refuge there; and the king’s palace was a replica of the temple in this (see on :6,7,14). He likewise reasoned that his palace was inviolate. But God is no respecter of such literalism. The image is of a woman who dies in childbirth. But even within that figure, there is the Divine hope of new birth, of something coming out of it with whom He could work in restoring a renewed Israel. But even that hope was to be dashed, as the exiles of the next generation didn’t respond, as Ezekiel’s prophecy chronicles.</p>


text:
<h4>As I live, says Yahweh, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on My right hand, yet would I pluck you from there- Coniah is also called Jeconiah, and then when he ascended to the throne, Jehoiachin. The kings of Judah were intended to be kings on behalf of God, His representatives on earth; and therefore they as it were carried His signet ring. But this is expressed in the conditional sense, because Coniah did not thus reign on God’s behalf. God’s intention was that at the restoration, the throne of David should be restored and Zerubbabel would have this signet ring and reign on God’s behalf (<a href='B:440 2:23'>Hag 2:23</a>). But that potential also didn’t come about and was precluded by human weakness. The prophecy is therefore deferred and rescheduled to fulfillment in the Lord Jesus.</h4>


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<h4>and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans- Their fear of Babylon was such that they were madly running to every nation who might help them against Babylon, eagerly accepting their gods as part of a contract in which they would receive their military help.</h4>


text:
<p>I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you will die- This was true, but he was shown great grace there in that he was released from prison (<a href='B:300 52:31'>Jer 52:31</a>), perhaps because he repented. See on :12,30. His mother is also mentioned as going into captivity as his lack of spirituality was likely partly her fault:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>But to the land to which their soul longs to return, to it they shall not return- The same words are used of the desire of the common people to return (<a href='B:300 44:14'>Jer 44:14</a>)."Return"is the word also used for repenting. This is the picture of all the rejected, the foolish virgins banging on heaven’s door all too late, wanting to repent / return, but all too tragically late. Now is the day for repentance / returning.</p>


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<p>Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they don’t know?- This could be quoting the imagined reaction of the Jews that their great king Coniah was being treated as a useless potsherd, a piece of broken pottery. But that was indeed how Israel and their king had been presented earlier- as a shattered earthen jar, broken by the Divine potter (<a href='B:300 19:1'>Jer 19:1</a>). It could be that this is an interjection from Jeremiah, once again overly positive in his view of Israel; and even in that, he was somehow representing the view of God for His beloved people. Or these could be rhetorical questions, as if to enquire why Coniah was being treated like this. See on :29</p>


text:
<p>O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Yahweh- What follows is a judgment of condemnation upon one man. But the people of the entire land were to"hear"this word and be led to repentance by considering the condemnation of another individual. And that is a challenge for us today as well.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh, Write you this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah- I suggested on :26 that his release from prison in Babylon suggests he repented. And so this judgment didn’t come true, in that he had children (<a href='B:130 3:17'>1Ch 3:17</a>) and Shealtiel is reckoned as his son and directly in the line of Messiah (<a href='B:470 1:12'>Mat 1:12</a>), although it seems Jeconiah was not his natural father (<a href='B:490 3:27-31'>Luk 3:27-31</a>). So we see again that judgment can be changed by repentance- in this life:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><h4>At the restoration from Babylon, David would never want a man to sit upon his throne (<a href='B:300 33:17'>Jer 33:17</a>); and no conditions to this are specified. And yet even within Jeremiah it is apparent that because of the failure of Judah’s leaders, there would indeed come a time when there would be “none to sit upon the throne of David” (<a href='B:300 22:30'>Jer 22:30</a>; <a href='B:300 36:30'>Jer 36:30</a>). Yet if the Jews had done righteousness in Zedekiah’s time, then instead of the Babylonians entering the gates of Jerusalem there would have been “kings sitting for David upon his throne” (<a href='B:300 22:4'>Jer 22:4</a> RVmg:). But this condition is not mentioned in the promises to David in 2 Samuel 7 nor in the apparent blanket statement of <a href='B:300 33:17'>Jer 33:17</a>.</h4>


text:
<p>Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! says Yahweh- Jeremiah was himself a priest, and this prophecy is particularly against them, his own people and family. No wonder it was they who wished to destroy him. Time and again the Lord Jesus reapplies the language of the restoration from Babylon to what He is doing to all men and women who heed His call to come out from the world and follow Him. The ideas of bringing His sheep,"other sheep of mine", who will hear His voice and form one flock under one shepherd (<a href='B:500 10:16'>Joh 10:16</a>)- all these are rooted in the restoration prophecies (Ezekiel 34; <a href='B:330 37:21-28'>Eze 37:21-28</a>; <a href='B:300 23:1-8'>Jer 23:1-8</a>; <a href='B:300 31:1-10'>Jer 31:1-10</a>).</p>


text:
<h4>Therefore thus says Yahweh the God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people- They did feed the people; the issue is therefore that they fed them wrongly, with false prophecies. It was the duty of the priests to teach the people, as represented by the figure of feeding.</h4><h4>You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings, says Yahweh- They had not"visited them"with true Divine comfort, they had not manifested / revealed God to them, and so God would manifest / reveal Himself in judgment upon them.</h4>


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<h4>I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries- The exile of Judah into the nations comprising the Babylonian empire was considered as certain to happen, even though there was the possibility of repentance. This would be orchestrated by the Angels- the Angel of Israel is likened to a shepherd in <a href='B:230 80:1'>Psa 80:1</a>; <a href='B:290 63:9-11'>Isa 63:9-11</a> etc.</h4><p>Where I have driven them- Both God and the pastors of Israel are described as having ‘driven out’ Israel from their land (<a href='B:300 23:2-3'>Jer 23:2-3</a>; <a href='B:300 23:8'>Jer 23:8</a>); the pastors’ sin resulted in all the people sinning and deserving judgment, and God worked with this system, confirming His people in the evil way they had taken. There is no doubt that we can be counted responsible for making another brother sin, even though he too bears responsibility for that sin. A personally ‘righteous’ believer may well be excluded from the Kingdom for the effect he has had on others.</p><p>And will bring them again to their folds- The"them"is defined in :6 as both Judah and the ten tribes. It was potentially possible, and was the Divine intention, that both groups would return from captivity at the same time and come to"their folds", perhaps an intensive plural for the one great fold, in Jerusalem. The same word is translated"holy habitation"with reference to Zion (<a href='B:20 15:3'>Exo 15:3</a>; <a href='B:100 15:25'>2Sa 15:25</a>; <a href='B:290 27:10'>Isa 27:10</a>; <a href='B:290 33:20'>Isa 33:20</a>; <a href='B:300 31:23'>Jer 31:23</a>)</p><h4>And they shall be fruitful and multiply- They would then experience the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, and would be part of a new creation, fulfilling the command to Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. They would enter a new covenant based upon the promises to Abraham, seeing they had broken the old covenant which was based upon the Mosaic law.</h4>


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<h4>I will set up shepherds over them who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, says Yahweh-"I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them"- rulers who would&nbsp; genuinely care for Israel like the master shepherd, the Angel, did (see on :3). Jeremiah was frequently moved to lament the false shepherds of Israel, which is understandable if the Angel shepherd of Israel inspired Jeremiah. He would have been deeply hurt at his flock being left to ruin by those to whom He had delegated His shepherding role (cp. how in <a href='B:290 63:9-11'>Isa 63:9-11</a> both the Angel and Moses appear to be the shepherd that led Israel). But this potential didn’t happen, and so the prophecy was reapplied to the great shepherd, the Lord Jesus.</h4><h4>The great restoration prophecies of <a href='B:300 23:1-8'>Jer 23:1-8</a> and <a href='B:330 34:1-31'>Eze 34:1-31</a> speak of the flock of Israel going astray due to bad shepherds, being saved by the good shepherd, being delivered / gathered, and then returning to the land. The Hebrew word shub means both ’to return’ in the sense of returning to the land, and ’turning’ in the sense of repentance. But these restoration prophecies are packed with allusion to the great shepherd Psalms 23. Here, David says that the good shepherd ’causes me to repent’ (<a href='B:230 23:3'>Psa 23:3</a> Heb:). This is matched in Ezekiel 36 by the idea of God giving Israel a new heart. And the Lord’s amazing parable of the good shepherd (<a href='B:490 15:1-7'>Luk 15:1-7</a>) brings together Psalms 23 and also these restoration passages, in speaking of how He goes out and finds the lost sheep and brings it back home. The sheep is found, and accepts being found- there is no actual mention of repentance. Thus the ’return’ of Judah to their land was intended as a work of God- He would make them return, He would give them repentance [note how <a href='B:510 11:18'>Act 11:18</a> speaks of God granting men repentance]. This is all such wonderful grace.</h4>


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<h4>Behold, the days come says Yahweh, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land- In contrast to the king at the time of Jeremiah who did not act like this but the opposite (<a href='B:300 22:16-17'>Jer 22:16-17</a>). I suggested on <a href='B:300 22:24'>Jer 22:24</a> that the king in view was potentially Zerubbabel,"the branch of God from Babylon". <a href='B:450 6:12'>Zec 6:12</a> interprets this as a reference to Zerubbabel:"the man whose name is the branch::. shall&nbsp; build&nbsp; the&nbsp; temple of the&nbsp; Lord". Zerubbabel being a king-priest was in the kingly line, and thus can correctly be called a king in the line of David (<a href='B:470 1:12'>Mat 1:12</a>; <a href='B:490 3:7'>Luk 3:7</a>; ’Sheshbazzar’ of <a href='B:150 1:8'>Ezr 1:8</a> is the Babylonian equivalent of ’Zerubbabel’; <a href='B:150 3:8'>Ezr 3:8</a> describes his brothers as"priests and Levites"). Great prince Nehemiah humbly entered Jerusalem incognito on an ass (<a href='B:160 2:11-15'>Neh 2:11-15</a>)- it is a wild speculation that Zerubbabel did the same, and thus provided a primary basis for <a href='B:450 9:9'>Zec 9:9</a>"Thy king cometh unto thee (also unrecognized, in the case of Jesus entering spiritually ruined Jerusalem)::. lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass".</h4><h4>The majestic prophecy of <a href='B:300 23:5-7'>Jer 23:5-7</a> had prophesied that when Israel returned from Babylon, “the branch” would rise and save them “and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth”, i:e. establish the Messianic Kingdom (cp. <a href='B:230 72:2'>Psa 72:2</a>; <a href='B:290 9:7'>Isa 9:7</a>). But Zerubbabel, the “branch-from-Babylon”, lead the people back from Babylon, half heartedly built a temple- which faithful men wept at, when they saw how feeble it was compared to that which should have been (<a href='B:150 3:12'>Ezr 3:12</a>). And then he beat it back to Babylon:Nelson’s Bible Dictionary comments: “For some mysterious reason, Zerubbabel is not mentioned in connection with the Temple dedication. Neither is he mentioned after this time”. The reason seems to be that he returned to Babylon. R:K. Harrison in the Zondervan Encyclopedia mentions that “a 6th century AD Jewish chronicle preserved the tradition that Zerubbabel returned to Babylonia after 515 BC and succeeded his father Shealtiel as the prince of the exiled remnant there”. He chose to be a prince in Babylon’s Kingdom, the kingdoms of men, rather than in the Kingdom of God. And so many have followed his decision in the centuries since, thus frustrating what could have been for them and many others within their influence. Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, 11:3) records that “Zorobabel, who had been made governor of the Jews that had been in captivity, came to Darius from Jerusalem, for there had been an old friendship between him and the king”. He was friendly with the King of Babylon, and chose to follow where this lead rather than friendship with the Almighty. Compare this with how the ‘friendliness’ of a boss or worldly friend has lead so many into promotions or situations where they simply cannot do the work which God intended for them. See on <a href='B:300 30:21'>Jer 30:21</a>.</h4>


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<p>In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name by which he shall be called: Yahweh our righteousness- <a href='B:300 33:16'>Jer 33:16</a>; <a href='B:300 23:6'>Jer 23:6</a> etc. outline God’s intention that after the restoration, the rebuilt Zion would be named"The Lord our righteous one"because Jerusalem would be the habitation of the righteous one (<a href='B:300 31:23'>Jer 31:23</a>; <a href='B:300 50:7'>Jer 50:7</a>). This is similar language to the restoration prophecies of Isaiah- the surrounding Gentile world would see / perceive / believe in"the righteous one"who would reign in the rebuilt Zion (<a href='B:290 62:2'>Isa 62:2</a>). The idea of imputed righteousness developed by Paul in Romans 1-8 is here foreseen. Israel had sinned grievously, and were largely impenitent. The only way they could be right with God was through the imputed righteousness of a"branch"of David (:5) who was completely righteous.</p>


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<p>Therefore behold, the days come says Yahweh, that they shall no more say, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt- The form of swearing in covenant relationship was to be changed. The same verses occur in <a href='B:300 16:14-15'>Jer 16:14-15</a> in the context of Judah being offered a new covenant, seeing they had broken the old covenant. That new covenant was to be made when the exiles left Babylon and the various nations within her empire where they had been scattered. But this didn’t work out; because Judah refused it.</p>


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<p>but, As Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them. They shall dwell in their own land- The new covenant was to be made once they left Babylon and the subject nations, just as the old covenant was made once they had left Egypt. There was intended to be some even more dramatic and powerful source of exodus in leaving Babylon than there had been in leaving Egypt. But in reality. nothing like the parting of the Red Sea or the plagues upon Egypt happened. The decree of Cyrus was clearly overruled by God, but other prophecies make it clear that the exodus of the exile was to be associated with the fall of Babylon. Indeed they were to flee Babylon so that they didn’t share in her fall. And it was this dramatic action which was to convert the remnants of the Babylonian empire to Israel’s God. But this didn’t happen; instead this prophetic theme has been reapplied and rescheduled to the events of the last days.</p>


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<p>Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Yahweh, and because of His holy words- Faced with the wonderful potential future of :1-8, Jeremiah felt utterly overcome by the reality of the fact that the false prophets were teaching quite otherwise and were being eagerly believed, with resultant immoral behaviour (:10). We see here his sensitivity to the tragedy of the future and spiritual possibilities which God’s people were missing. The"holy words"in view are the promise of imputed holiness or righteousness. We too should be deeply affected by the spurning of God’s grace by His people.</p>


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<h4>For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up- See on :9. The widespread adultery and swearing to other gods was a result of the false prophets of :9, who were eagerly believed rather than the amazing grace of Yahweh offered in :1-8. And already the drought of Jeremiah 14 had come. The book of Jeremiah isn’t chronological.</h4><h4>&nbsp;Their way is evil, and their might is not right- Human power is fiercely criticized by the prophets. “One of the most striking and one of the most pervasive features of the prophetic polemic is the denunciation and distrust of power in all its forms and guises”. “Not by might, says the Lord of hosts” (<a href='B:450 4:6'>Zec 4:6</a>; <a href='B:400 7:16'>Mic 7:16</a>).</h4>


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<p>for both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in My house have I found their wickedness, says Yahweh- Yahweh stillreferred to the temple as"My house", and according to Ezekiel the shekinah glory was there until the very end. Prophet and priest were related in that it was the duty of the priests to teach God’s word, but they were instead teaching the word of the false prophets.</p>


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<p>Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation, says Yahweh- This describes the downward spiral, an evil spirit from the Lord, which is the counterpart to the work of the holy Spirit from Him. God deceived prophets to speak things in His Name which were actually false (<a href='B:110 22:20-22'>1Ki 22:20-22</a>; <a href='B:330 14:9'>Eze 14:9</a>). He chose Israel’s delusions by making their idols answer them (<a href='B:290 66:3-4'>Isa 66:3-4</a>). God laid a stumbling block before the righteous man who turned to sin (<a href='B:330 3:20'>Eze 3:20</a>), driving him along"slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them"(<a href='B:300 23:12'>Jer 23:12</a>). Jeremiah feared God had deceived him (<a href='B:300 20:7'>Jer 20:7</a>)- showing he knew such a thing was possible.</p>


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<p>I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused My people Israel to err- Samaria was already in captivity because of their false prophets. But they are paralleled with the false prophets of Judah (:14). Judah was persuaded that they were spiritually superior to the ten tribes because the temple was with them, and there were therefore inviolate. But this was not the case, and we noted on :6 that it was God’s intention that Israel and Judah were to be united by the experience of repentance and acceptance of His grace.</p>


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<p>In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none does return from his wickedness: they are all of them become to Me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah- See on :13. The widespread adultery amongst the people of :10 was therefore directly related to their being taught to do this by the Jerusalem prophets, who likewise were adulterers. This adultery was not so much a case of having affairs with neighbours as of sleeping with local women at the idol shrines. Repentance / returning from wickedness was so critical at this stage, and yet the spiritual leadership were encouraging impenitence.</p>


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<h4>Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall- Maybe the Lord realized as He had the cup of gall on His lips that they were giving this to Him in the spirit of <a href='B:300 23:15'>Jer 23:15</a>: to show that He was a false prophet. In this case, for the sake of His respect for the implications of Holy Scripture, He endured a far higher degree of pain. This judgment was taken by Him on the cross, who was there"the servant of Yahweh", which Israel had been intended to be. Wormwood and gall were what would be the result of false teachers encouraging the people to commit idolatry (<a href='B:50 29:18'>Deu 29:18</a>). So they had fed themselves with these things, and their judgment to drink them was therefore God’s confirmation of people in what they themselves had chosen. And that is how all His judgments operate. God’s judgment is likened to drinking wormwood. But homeopathy has discovered that wormwood is a cure for some forms of breast cancer and malaria- on the homeopathic principle that the actual trace elements of the illness can be the elements of the cure. God knew this of course when He describes His condemnation of men as a drinking of wormwood. There is something healing and therapeutic about judgment, even if it doesn’t save the individual judged.</h4><h4>For from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land- As noted on :10,14, the immoral teaching and example of the false prophets had spread into all the land because the priests chose to teach their false word to the people rather than God’s true word which Jeremiah was preaching.</h4>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh- This of course sounded like Jeremiah asking people to believe him and not the other prophets. Indeed that was the requirement made by"Yahweh of Armies", the God whose Angelic armies were controlling the armies of the Babylonians. The word of God is contrasted to words which come from our own heart. Man’s natural imagination is not to be the source of truth, but rather it is God’s word which is to be our authority. This is a warning required today, when human imagination and vision has been elevated to Divine proportions.</p>


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<h4>They say continually to those who despise Me, Yahweh has said, You shall have peace- Those who despised Jeremiah were his own priestly relatives (<a href='B:300 11:21'>Jer 11:21</a>; <a href='B:300 11:23'>Jer 11:23</a>). Those priests taught the word of the false prophets, who obviously hated Jeremiah."Despise"is usually translated"provoke". Jeremiah was really hurt and provoked by the opposition of his family; and in that again he manifested Yahweh, who was likewise provoked by Israel (s:w. <a href='B:50 31:20'>Deu 31:20</a>; <a href='B:50 32:19'>Deu 32:19</a>).</h4><h4>And to each one who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shallcome on you- The choice was between walking after God’s word, or walking after their own hearts. This is where God’s word is not like any other literature. It is to take a grip upon the human heart and to inculcate a way of thought which is contrary to our own natural heart or thinking. This points up the danger of using the Bible simply to reinforce our own natural ideas, whilst disregarding the rest."Stubbornness"also can mean"imagination". <a href='B:50 29:19'>Deu 29:19</a> speaks directly of Judah at this time- when they heard the words of the curses for disobedience, they would think they would still have peace because they walked in the imaginations [s:w."stubbornness"] of their own hearts. The false prophets were preaching exactly such"peace"(<a href='B:300 6:14'>Jer 6:14</a>; <a href='B:300 8:11'>Jer 8:11</a>). The heart [mind] is a fountain of imagination, of fantasy, and it is this which can be redirected by the influence of God’s word and Spirit upon the human heart. But the sense of"stubbornness"in the Hebrew word for"imagination"shows that by exercising our own imaginations without the influence of God’s word, we become set in those ways of thought, until they come to define us.</h4>


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<p>For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should perceive and hear His word? Who has noted My word, and heard it?- It was Jeremiah and not the false prophets who had done this. The first half of the verse is Jeremiah’s thoughts; the second half is Yahweh speaking in response, confirming Jeremiah’s thoughts. The true prophets stood in the presence of God, and partook in His “council” (see on :22), i:e. His inner circle of trusted friends (<a href='B:300 15:19'>Jer 15:19</a>; <a href='B:300 23:18'>Jer 23:18</a>), of which we see a glimpse in the vision of the court of Heaven in <a href='B:110 22:20-22'>1Ki 22:20-22</a>. God’s doctrines are described as a secret, a mystery; the Hebrew word used in this connection means ‘A confidential plan revealed to intimate friends’; and yet they are revealed to the true believers (<a href='B:370 3:7-8'>Amo 3:7-8</a>; <a href='B:300 23:18'>Jer 23:18</a>; <a href='B:300 23:22'>Jer 23:22</a> AV mg:; <a href='B:230 25:14'>Psa 25:14</a>; <a href='B:560 3:3-6'>Eph 3:3-6</a>). Therefore the congregation of true believers is called “the secret assembly of the saints” (<a href='B:230 89:7'>Psa 89:7</a> Heb:). There are many Bibles around, but God’s doctrines are to some extent a secret, and not understood by many of those who possess and read the Bible. It therefore follows that the Bible must be written in such a way as to conceal Truth from the majority of readers, because they don’t wish to enter God’s secret.</p>


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<p>Behold, the storm of Yahweh, His wrath, has gone forth. Yes, a whirling storm. It shall burst on the head of the wicked- This is the same idea as the cherubim storm being used by Ezekiel to represent how the armies of Babylon had already"gone forth"and were about to burst over the wicked in Jerusalem.</p>


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<p>The anger of Yahweh shall not return, until He has executed, and until He has performed the intents of His heart: in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly- There is a gap between God’s statements and their execution, and in that gap there can be human repentance which means that the initial intentions or statements of God do not come about. But there had been no take up of that opportunity, and so the intents of God’s heart concerning judgment were to come true. In repentance,"in the latter days", this would be completely, clearly understood.</p>


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<p>I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied- ’Running’ is an idiom for receiving God’s word (see on <a href='B:420 2:2'>Hab 2:2</a>). If we receive God’s word we are to run with it, to distribute it to others; that is axiomatic to truly receiving it. The false prophets ’ran’ with their word, but it was their word and not Yahweh’s.</p>


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<p>But if they had stood in My council, then had they caused My people to hear My words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings- See on :18. To truly receive God’s word means to turn from evil. The word creates a response in those whom it impacts. But if people are caused to hear a false word, then they will not repent. Here in <a href='B:300 23:18'>Jer 23:18</a>; <a href='B:300 23:22'>Jer 23:22</a> we find prophets standing in the “council of the Lord” (RV) to receive His word; and yet this sounds very much like Angels standing in the court of Heaven to receive God’s word of command. Likewise note the parallel between an Angel sitting under an oak and a prophetess sitting under an oak (<a href='B:70 4:5'>Jdg 4:5</a> RVmg:; 6:11). “The God of the spirits [Angels] of the prophets sent his Angel” to the prophet John (<a href='B:730 22:6'>Rev 22:6</a> RV); implying that as God had sent His Angel-Spirits to inspire the prophets, so now He did to John. <a href='B:230 147:15'>Psa 147:15</a>; <a href='B:230 147:18'>Psa 147:18</a> speak of the sending out of God’s word to melt snow and send rain; this must surely refer to the Angels being sent out from the court of Heaven to do these things. The way the “watcher and holy one” came down from Heaven is paralleled with the word of Divine command likewise coming down from Heaven (<a href='B:340 4:23'>Dan 4:23</a>; <a href='B:340 4:31'>Dan 4:31</a>). The universe is not just ticking away on clockwork; the Angels are actively being sent out from Heaven to perform what may appear the most mundane and repetitious of things. Thus God sends out His Angels; He sends out His word; and He also sent out His prophets (Haggai- <a href='B:440 1:12'>Hag 1:12</a>; Ezekiel- <a href='B:330 3:5-6'>Eze 3:5-6</a>). God rose up and sent out His prophets (<a href='B:120 17:13'>2Ki 17:13</a>; <a href='B:300 7:25'>Jer 7:25</a> and many others). He is described as doing this because those prophets likewise identified with the word and became part of their own message. See on <a href='B:290 9:7'>Isa 9:7</a>; <a href='B:330 10:5'>Eze 10:5</a>.</p>


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<p>Am I a God at hand, says Yahweh, and not a God afar off?- This is a rhetorical question. The words for"near"(NEV"at hand") and"far"are as in <a href='B:300 12:2'>Jer 12:2</a>"You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart". This can be translated as them saying"You are near"with their mouths, when in fact they were far from God in their heart. This statement"You are near"was based on the much loved <a href='B:50 4:7'>Deu 4:7</a>, which states that no God has Israel so"near"them (s:w:). Indeed Yahweh was near them- but they had to come near to Him in their hearts. He was"near"in that His word was to be near in their hearts and not far off from their hearts (<a href='B:50 30:11'>Deu 30:11</a>; <a href='B:50 30:14'>Deu 30:14</a> s:w:), but they were refusing His word through Jeremiah. The nearness of God is therefore potential, for man in response must also draw near unto Him (<a href='B:330 42:13'>Eze 42:13</a>; <a href='B:330 43:19'>Eze 43:19</a> s:w:). But the grace of God was such that He would save them even from"far off"(<a href='B:300 30:10'>Jer 30:10</a> s:w:). Even from that situation, God’s grace could work on their hearts. They were taken"far [off]"to captivity because they had Him far from their hearts.</p>


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<p>Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says Yahweh. Don’t I fill heaven and earth? says Yahweh- This appears to be a quotation from or allusion to the words of the false prophets; or perhaps these words were never said, but they were the implied subconscious position of the people:&nbsp; We would all claim to believe that God sees and knows all things, and yet our behaviour and thinking at times implies we think there are"secret places"hidden from His view. Edom had the same mentality (<a href='B:300 49:10'>Jer 49:10</a>). God had specifically warned them that their ways were not"hid"from His eyes (<a href='B:300 16:17'>Jer 16:17</a> s:w:). And yet Israel thought they could hide from Him (<a href='B:300 23:24'>Jer 23:24</a> s:w:).</p>


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<p>I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in My name saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed-"I have heard::."is the equivalent of God saying that they could not hide their ways from Him (:24). He heard every word they said, as He does to this day. And judgment is according to our words.</p>


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<p>How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?- Again, the heart is the essential issue. We would likely have simply focused upon the fact that these people were liars, falsely claiming things convenient for them, in the name of God. But God’s comment is that the lies were in their hearts, they were self deceived deep within their own self-talk, and were sharing that deceit with others.</p>


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<p>Who think to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal- They fiercely guarded the pronunciation of His Covenant Name; but in reality, they forgot that Name. And so with the temple; they so loved it, it was the apple of their eye; but in real principle, they desecrated all that it stood for. The Gentile destruction and desecration of it was only a material reflection of what they in principle had done; and the invasions were doubtless intended to teach Israel this. To forget Yahweh’s Name is understood as worshipping other gods (<a href='B:230 44:20'>Psa 44:20</a> s:w:). The message of the false prophets was given in the name of Yahweh, and it was effectively saying that Yahweh was asking Judah to serve other gods in His Name. But by this they were forgetting His Name, for His Name as revealed to Moses expresses His character and the unique claim He thereby has upon His people. See on :39.</p>


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<p>The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? says Yahweh- This could simply be saying that the true prophet was to faithfully speak the word received. But there could also be the implication that in such an environment as described in :27, the true prophets (and there were others apart from Jeremiah, at least Ezekiel we know was contemporary with him) were tempted to not tell or speak forth the word they had received. And so they are encouraged that the true prophecies were as wheat to the straw of the false prophecies- the difference was evident. Another possibility is that the false prophet who had a dream should tell it just as it was, a dream he had had; whereas the true prophet should speak God’s word faithfully. See on :30.</p>


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<p>Isn’t My word like fire? says Yahweh; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?- The false prophets were speaking of"peace"coming as a result of worshipping idols, sanctioned by Yahweh (see on :27). The true word of God was by its nature more powerful in that it spoke of judgment to come; the hammer of Babylon (<a href='B:300 51:20'>Jer 51:20</a>) was to crush Judah and burn Jerusalem and the temple with fire. The very demand of God indicated that it was His word. Peter understood this when He asks the Lord to invite him to walk on the water towards Him- He knew that such demands are typical of the true word of God.</p>


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<p>Therefore behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who steal My words each one from his neighbour- It could be that the false prophets were stealing some of Yahweh’s true words from the true prophets who were their"neighbours", considered as prophets too; see on :33,36. And so there was a mixture of true and false words from Yahweh in their message; hence the idea of the true and false prophecies being divided like straw and wheat (:28). This has always been the attraction of false teaching- in that it is a mixture of the true and the false. Just as in our own failures and temporal apostasies we mix truth and error, flesh and spirit within our own reasoning and self-justification. For example, we may gossip whilst justifying ourselves as doing so because we have love for the recipient of our gossip.</p>


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<p>Behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who use their tongues and say, He says- The idea is that they used their tongues, or words, and yet said"He [God] says this::.". They were exhibiting the same mentality which today claims that our own native thoughts and ideas are in fact God’s; the pastor who claims he has had a word from the Lord asking him to get a new expensive car or watch::.</p>


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<h4>Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says Yahweh, and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies- As noted on :26, the heart was the essential issue. Their dreams arose from their own self deception deep within their own psychology, and yet they claimed these thoughts as those of God. We would likely have simply focused upon the fact that these people were liars, falsely claiming things convenient for them, in the name of God. But God’s comment is that the lies were in their hearts, they were self deceived deep within their own self-talk, and were sharing that deceit with others.</h4><p>And by their vain boasting- Of victory against the Babylonians.</p><h4>Yet I didn’t send them, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all, says Yahweh- The attraction to them of the false prophets was that they offered"profit". It was materialism and a chronic coveting of instant wealth which led them to idolatry, which the prophets taught. This was because those idols were fertility cults offering good harvests and prosperity in return for worshipping them. It was idolatry which"can’t profit"(s:w. <a href='B:90 12:21'>1Sa 12:21</a>; <a href='B:290 44:9-10'>Isa 44:9-10</a>; <a href='B:300 2:8'>Jer 2:8</a>), and this was what the"lying words"were all about.</h4>


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<h4>When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you saying, What is the burden of Yahweh?- The conscience of the false prophets and the priests who taught their false words was not clear. Otherwise they would not have come to Jeremiah asking him what Yahweh’s word really was. Perhaps they did so in order to steal some of his words of true prophecy and mix them with their own false prophecies (see on :30,36).</h4><h4>Then you shall tell them, What burden! I will cast you off, says Yahweh- Yahweh ’cast off’ Judah (<a href='B:300 12:7'>Jer 12:7</a>; <a href='B:300 23:33'>Jer 23:33</a>) but only because they had cast Him off (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a> s:w:). And yet God did not cast off His people (<a href='B:300 33:26'>Jer 33:26</a>); Jeremiah personally was persuaded that God would not cast off His people for ever (<a href='B:310 3:31'>Lam 3:31</a>). He will show them mercy as if He had not cast them off (<a href='B:450 10:6'>Zec 10:6</a>); this reversal of their casting off was to be through the repentance of the exiled community (<a href='B:30 26:44'>Lev 26:44</a>). But even this didn’t happen, and yet God still did not cast them away (<a href='B:520 11:2'>Rom 11:2</a>). His love and grace was such that He holds on to them. This desperate holding on to His people is seen in the experience of every person who joins God’s people through baptism into Christ. They may indeed be cast off ultimately, but that is because they cast Him off, and wrestled against His insistent desire to keep hold of them eternally.</h4>


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<p>As for the prophet, the priest and the people who shall say, The burden of Yahweh, I will even punish that man and his house- Prophet, priest and people were all to be sharing God’s word; all society was to be involved. The false prophets gave their words to the priests, whose duty it was to teach their words; and then the people spread those words further. This was how Israel should have been, with the ordinary people spreading the knowledge of God’s word; and indeed this is the ideal situation of the Kingdom age (<a href='B:300 31:34'>Jer 31:34</a>).</p>


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<p>You shall say each one to his neighbour and each one to his brother, What has Yahweh answered? and, What has Yahweh spoken?- The judgment upon them was that God’s word would not be given to them in future. Instead of telling each other what they claimed was God’s word, they would instead be asking each other if they had heard a word from God- and the answer would be in the negative, because the sun would go down over the prophets and His revelation would stop (<a href='B:370 8:12'>Amo 8:12</a>; <a href='B:400 3:6'>Mic 3:6</a>). And yet this was a judgment which was deferred; because Ezekiel continued speaking God’s word to the exiles, and the restoration prophets did so for another few generations. Yet here we have the impression that God was so angry with the false prophets and the eager belief of them, that He threatens to withdraw all true revelation. And yet He didn’t at that time, although this word did come true in later generations.</p>


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<p>You shall mention the burden of Yahweh no more: for every man’s own word shall be his burden; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of Yahweh of Armies our God- See on :35. Their perverting of God’s word was through mixing His true words (which they stole from Jeremiah, see on :30,33) with their false words. By our words we will be justified or condemned. The false prophets were judged according to their words:"Every man’s word shall be his burden"at the day of Babylonian judgment (<a href='B:300 23:36'>Jer 23:36</a>). <a href='B:550 6:5'>Gal 6:5</a> alludes here in saying that at the judgment, every man shall bear his own burden- i:e:, that of his own words.</p>


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<p>You shall say to the prophet, What has Yahweh answered you? and, What has Yahweh spoken?- This was a commandment; instead of claiming to have God’s word in the form of the false prophecies, they were to instead be seeking it from the true prophets. See on :35.</p>


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<p>But if you say, The burden of Yahweh; therefore thus says Yahweh: Because you say this word, The burden of Yahweh, and I have sent to you saying, You shall not say, The burden of Yahweh- Instead of seeking to learn God’s word as commanded in :37, they claimed that the burden or prophecies of Yahweh were with them. They had just been soberly warned not to do this; if they continued, there would be extreme punishment.</p>


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<p>therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from My presence- Here and in :40, God speaks in the fire of His wrath. For to twist His words to the very opposite of their intention was terrible, and incited His anger, as it does today. By doing so, they had forgotten His Name (:27). And so God in response would forget them. But He says in <a href='B:290 49:18'>Isa 49:18</a> that His love was such that He could not forget them even if they forgot Him. And has God cast away His people, as here threatened? <a href='B:520 11:2'>Rom 11:2</a> says that He has not.</p>


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<p>and I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten- I explained on :39 that the twisting of Yahweh’s words deeply provoked His anger, and He speaks here in that wrath Hence He speaks of Judah being perpetually shamed; although He would"forget you"as His people (:39), He would never forget what they had done to Him. But we know that in that wrath He remembered mercy, and actually did not carry this out. For in the restoration of His people which He envisaged, their shame would be removed (<a href='B:330 36:15'>Eze 36:15</a>). They would"bear their shame"for a limited period only (<a href='B:290 61:7'>Isa 61:7</a>; <a href='B:330 39:26'>Eze 39:26</a>). This is the God of such passionate love that He can change His stated purposes about His people, because the pole of His saving pity is greater than that of His judgment.</p>


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<h4>Yahweh showed me and behold, two baskets of figs set before Yahweh’s temple- The allusion is to how the firstfruits were brought as offerings to the temple, to be first inspected by the priests."First-ripe"in :2 is the same word translated"firstfruits". And Jeremiah as a priest was asked to make that inspection. The fig trees had been destroyed by the drought of Jeremiah 14 and by the earlier incursions of the Babylonians (<a href='B:300 5:17'>Jer 5:17</a>; <a href='B:300 8:13'>Jer 8:13</a>; <a href='B:370 4:9'>Amo 4:9</a>). That there were any figs to offer was therefore of itself a reflection of God’s grace.</h4><p>"Two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the Lord"; one representing the apostate Jews who remained in the land, and the other those who went to Babylon and who were intended to there revive spiritually. It seems that an Angel dwelt literally in the temple. This vision of two groups of Jews standing before an Angel is probably the basis of the vision of Zechariah 3, where Joshua and the Jews eager to rebuild Jerusalem stand before&nbsp; the Angel, with the Satan standing there too. ’Satan’ is often associated with apostate Jews in the New Testament.</p><p>After that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the princes of Judah- This prophecy is therefore to be dated when Zedekiah ascended to the throne. But it clearly states that Zedekiah was to spiritually fail (:8). And yet Jeremiah often appeals to him to repent. If he had done so, then this prophecy wouldn’t have come true. Throughout, this is a prophecy of potentials, the final outcome of which human repentance could have changed.</p><h4>With the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon- As noted on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>, it was Babylonian policy to take into exile only the leadership and their families. I suggest that the craftsmen and smiths were also taken because they were the ones who had constructed the idols and shrines. Their specific judgment was also to deprive those who remained of their services, in a bid to elicit repentance from Zedekiah, who would otherwise stand condemned (:8). See on <a href='B:300 25:6'>Jer 25:6</a>.</h4>


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<p>One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad- There were three fig harvests / year. The ripe figs were freshly harvested, whereas the bad figs were either the immature fruit which was due for future harvest, or figs from the previous harvest. The eating of the offerings by the priests was to symbolize God’s eating with Israel, His fellowship with them and acceptance of them. God would not accept / eat the bad figs, but He would accept the good ones.</p>


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<p>Then Yahweh said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that can’t be eaten, they are so bad- The difference between the two types of figs was marked. And yet it is hard to perceive the fulfillment of this difference; Ezekiel’s prophecies to those who had gone into captivity show that the early exiles of :5 were no better than Zedekiah’s group who remained in the land; indeed in Ezekiel 18 those"good figs"complain that those left in the land were being punished unjustly. This prophecy therefore is about a potential fulfillment didn’t come about.</p>


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<p>The word of Yahweh came to me saying- The interpretation appears to have been given later. Perhaps literally the two baskets of figs were placed before the temple as an acted parable.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good- The first group of exiles didn’t become so exceedingly good (:3) of themselves; it was because God decided to"regard"them like this; He would impute righteousness to them so that He saw them like this. The “good figs” were to be those who went to Babylon and through that experience there became “good figs”. Micah speaks of the same process. Zion was to be plowed and Jerusalem become heaps, which happened in the Babylonian invasion. But then afterwards- 70 years afterwards- the temple was to be rebuilt, “the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains” (<a href='B:400 3:12'>Mic 3:12</a>; <a href='B:400 4:1'>Mic 4:1</a>). “In that day…will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather that has been driven out…and I will make her that was cast off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth even for ever…the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem”. A Messianic Kingdom could then have come. This whole situation would be brought to pass because the daughter of Zion was to “go forth out of the city” of Jerusalem “and come even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered [RV rescued]: there shall the Lord redeem thee” (<a href='B:400 4:10'>Mic 4:10</a>). How was the travailing daughter of Zion to be delivered / rescued in Babylon after having been taken captive there from Jerusalem by the Babylonians? Surely in that there, God intended a spiritual revival of the people, there they would hear Ezekiel’s appeal to repent, which if responded&nbsp; to would enable them to build the temple which he had described (<a href='B:330 43:10-11'>Eze 43:10-11</a>) and thus usher in a Messianic Kingdom.</h4><p>But there are several reasons to believe that this intended Divine program didn’t work out- due to the lack of human response. For one thing, the majority of the Jews chose to remain in Babylon. They didn’t return when they had the chance. And there is extra-Biblical evidence that they soon arose from their weeping by the rivers of Babylon, and wholeheartedly adopted the surrounding Babylonian beliefs and values. Further, in Esther’s time, a decree was made to “destroy… and cause to perish” the Jews throughout the provinces of Persia / Babylon (<a href='B:190 3:13'>Est 3:13</a>; <a href='B:190 7:4'>Est 7:4</a>). This phrase uses the two Hebrew words which we find together three times in the list of curses to be brought upon a disobedient Israel (<a href='B:50 28:20'>Deu 28:20</a>; <a href='B:50 28:51'>Deu 28:51</a>; <a href='B:50 28:63'>Deu 28:63</a>). There evidently is a connection. And yet by her wonderful self-sacrificial mediation, Esther brought about the deferment and even annulment of those justifiable curses. God’s prophetic word was again changed- due to a mediator, who of course pointed both backwards to Moses, and forwards to the Lord Jesus.</p><h4>The prophecy of Jeremiah 29 is addressing the same two groups as in Jeremiah 24; the captives were intended to repent and become the good figs, whereas Zedekiah and his courtiers who remained in Jerusalem would become the bad figs (<a href='B:300 29:17'>Jer 29:17</a>). But that prophecy was only potentially true. Because now in <a href='B:300 29:21-32'>Jer 29:21-32</a> Jeremiah warns the exiles, those who were supposed to become good figs, that they were tolerating false prophets and following them.</h4>


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<h4>For I will set My eyes on them for good- To set the eyes upon for good,"take care of"or"look well unto", could mean that God’s eyes, the Angels, would bless the"good figs"in captivity and lead them to repentance and salvation. For that is the ultimate"good"which God plans for His people. But twice we read that Jeremiah could have gone into captivity and been looked upon for good (<a href='B:300 39:12'>Jer 39:12</a>; <a href='B:300 40:4'>Jer 40:4</a> s:w."I will set My eyes on them for good"in <a href='B:300 24:6'>Jer 24:6</a>). Yet Jeremiah declined; he chose to suffer affliction with the condemned, with the bad figs of the Jeremiah 24 prophecy, so that he might still help them to repentance. This looked forward to the Lord’s death as a sinner on the cross. And it is to be our spirit too, ever seeking the repentance of those who otherwise will be condemned rather than enjoying time solely with those who apparently will be saved.</h4><h4>And I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up- <a href='B:300 18:9'>Jer 18:9</a> makes it clear that this was conditional; if God promises building and planting, then the potential activity of God in this regard would cease if the people were disobedient. Which they were. Had the first exiles truly been good figs, then they would have been built, planted and never plucked up again in the restored kingdom under the new covenant God was offering them (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>). And the same promise is made to those called here the bad figs, the Jews who remained in the land- they too could have been planted, built and not plucked up again if they resisted the temptation to flee to Egypt (s:w. <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>). So this entire prophecy of the figs was not prescriptive, it was God’s vision of what was possible, but it was precluded by a lack of repentance amongst the exiles, as Ezekiel laments so often. And likewise, the bad figs need not have been as they were; they could have had the blessings of the good figs.</h4><h4><a href='B:150 9:8'>Ezr 9:8</a> says that “And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage”. Ezra saw that “little space” as a time when they received grace; he understood the prophecy of the figs in Jeremiah 24, that it was only through the captivity and the fact God had graciously not destroyed them but rather preserved them there, that there was the opportunity for a remnant to re-establish the Kingdom. What may appear to some as forsaking is in fact God’s grace to us, when spiritually discerned- whether it be deep within our own lives, or in the state of affairs upon this planet. Yet it should be noted that the prophecy of <a href='B:300 24:6-7'>Jer 24:6-7</a> about the good figs seems not to have come true at the restoration- although it could potentially have done so.</h4>


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<p>I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am Yahweh: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God; for they shall return to Me with their whole heart- The gift of a new heart was that associated with acceptance of the new covenant by the repentant exiles (<a href='B:300 31:33'>Jer 31:33</a>; <a href='B:300 32:39'>Jer 32:39</a>; <a href='B:330 11:19'>Eze 11:19</a>; <a href='B:330 36:26'>Eze 36:26</a>). But they refused that new covenant, and so it was reapplied and offered to a new Israel formed through the Lord’s death. The intention was that they would return to God, and therefore return to the land and enter this new covenant, which would involve God working directly upon their hearts, giving or ’putting in’ their hearts His word and love for Him. This is still on offer today, through the gift of the holy Spirit given to all who truly accept the same new covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus. But that was all potentially possible for the first group of exiles who went into Babylon; but they would not.</p>


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<p>As the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, they are so bad, surely thus says Yahweh, So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt- This was a subversion of their understanding, that those who had gone into captivity were sinners and they who remained were thereby declared righteous. It was God’s intention that the opposite be the case. And yet Zedekiah was repeatedly appealed to for repentance, so that this scenario would not happen. Again we have to conclude that there is a large conditional element in prophecies. The people of Jerusalem and those who had gone to Egypt likewise were not all destroyed. Jeremiah went down into Egypt with them and so far as we know, he was preserved. The reference may be to Jews who had gone to Egypt earlier with Jehoahaz (<a href='B:120 23:34'>2Ki 23:34</a>).</p>


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<p>I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them- This removing / tossing to and from of Judah from their land uses the same word as in <a href='B:50 28:25'>Deu 28:25</a>; in response to their breaking of the covenant, they would be"removed (s:w:) into all the kingdoms of the eretz, throughout the land promised to Abraham. But this curse could have been turned into a blessing; for the restoration prophets envisaged the nations of the eretz repenting and converting to Yahweh. This could have been achieved by the exiles witnessing to the various peoples and languages within the Babylonian / Persian empire. But this didn’t happen as was potentially possible. The exiles didn’t repent, and so their repentance and experience of the grace of forgiveness was not the powerful pattern of conversion to their neighbours which it could have been.</p>


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<p>I will send the sword, the famine, and the plague, among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers- "Consumed" clearly means ’destroyed’ (<a href='B:300 27:8'>Jer 27:8</a>; <a href='B:300 36:23'>Jer 36:23</a>; <a href='B:300 44:12'>Jer 44:12</a>; <a href='B:300 44:18'>Jer 44:18</a> etc:). But yet again we see that in wrath God remembered mercy. Zedekiah was not destroyed but went into exile in Babylon and died there apparently of natural causes. God’s plans are open ended, to always allow scope for human repentance; and somehow intertwined with that is His eagerness to respond to mediation from faithful third parties, as well as the simple fact of His extreme pity for human situations, arising out of His grace and love toward His people.</p>


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<p>The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, King of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon)- This was the time of the battle of Carchemish when the Egyptian army was destroyed, and it ought to have been obvious that Egypt was not going to save Judah from Babylon. <a href='B:340 1:1'>Dan 1:1</a> speaks of the third year, but the difference depends upon how one expresses some time in between the third and fourth years. This was the year when Daniel and the exiles were taken into captivity.</p>


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<p>which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying- He was going to announce that their exile and the Babylonian victory was now certainly going to happen. We wonder whether he travelled around Judah with this message in order to get it out to "all the people of Judah". See on :5.</p>


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<p>From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened- We often ask in Jeremiah: ‘Who is speaking? Jeremiah, or God?’. Their minds were clearly so intertwined. Both of them are described, in consecutive verses, as rising up early to plead with Israel (<a href='B:300 25:3-4'>Jer 25:3-4</a>). It was God who rose up early and spoke, but His effort was manifest in that of Jeremiah. This is how close we can come to God if we sincerely work with Him and for His cause, seeing things from His perspective. There is no hint thata single person responded to Jeremiah’s ministry; a great encouragement to us to persevere regardless of response to our ministry.</p>


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<h4>Yahweh has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened- Perhaps there were other prophets apart from Jeremiah who were also preaching at this time; probably Habakkuk. See on :3.</h4><h4>Nor inclined your ear to hear)- Inclining or humbling / bowing down the ear means that true response to God’s word ought to be a humbling experience. We cannot come away from engagement with God’s word without being humbled. And this very phrase is used of how God bows down / inclines His ear to human prayer (<a href='B:120 19:16'>2Ki 19:16</a>; <a href='B:230 17:6'>Psa 17:6</a>; <a href='B:230 31:2'>Psa 31:2</a>; <a href='B:230 71:2'>Psa 71:2</a> and often). We see here the mutuality possible between God and man, and the interplay between Bible reading and God’s response to our prayers. We speak to God in line with our understanding of His word, and He responds to our prayers. Bible reading and prayer therefore mesh together in the Christian life, as part of the upward spiral of spirituality. God is not silent to our prayers- He reveals Himself in response through His word.</h4>


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<p>saying, Return now each one from his evil way and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even for evermore- If they returned to God in repentance, then they would return from exile to the land. But this is spoke of even before they went into exile, as it were already the case. The promise of eternal inheritance in the land was only going to be true for those who wanted to be in the land. The appeal was to individuals- "each one". They were to realize that they as individuals had a part in the fate of the nation; they couldn’t consider that God was simply dealing with the leadership and they were unable to change outcomes. Hence the double emphasis in :1,2 upon the appeal being to all the people.</p>


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<p>and don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no harm- Again we see that idolatry is in essence a trust in our own works rather than in God. This is why idolatry is in essence an abiding temptation for all ages. It also explains why as noted on <a href='B:300 24:1'>Jer 24:1</a>, the "smiths" who made the idols were taken into captivity so that they could not create any more such works of their hands. The "harm" or "evil" was to be done by God, who is the author of good and evil in this sense (<a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a>)- a concept impossible to understand by those who believe in a cosmic Satan figure.</p>


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<p>Yet you have not listened to Me, says Yahweh; so that you provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt- All sin is to our own hurt or evil. The hurt / harm evil brought by Yahweh (:6) was but an extension of their own choices. Jeremiah is presented as making no converts; he “sat alone” (<a href='B:300 15:17'>Jer 15:17</a>). Not only was their perspective on human sinfulness so very different to that of their audience. They preached a message which was counter-cultural and attacked the very bases of the assumptions which lay at the core of individual and social life in Israel. They appeared to back Israel’s enemies. Their message was therefore rejected. Jeremiah lamented: “For twenty three years… the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened” (<a href='B:300 25:3-7'>Jer 25:3-7</a>). The prophets saw the love of God, but saw too how Israel spurned it and refused to understand it. It must’ve been a tragic and awful experience.</p>


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<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies: Because you have not heard My words- There is a crucial difference between hearing and obeying. They heard the words, as we can, but without really hearing.</p>


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<h4>Behold, I will send and take- Who was sent forth to take the northerners to invade Judah? Presumably an Angel. The same phrase is used of God sending forth an Angel to take a wife for Isaac (<a href='B:10 24:7'>Gen 24:7</a>; <a href='B:10 24:40'>Gen 24:40</a>). But in reality, it was Jeremiah who was sent to take a cup of wine to those nations (s:w. <a href='B:300 25:15'>Jer 25:15</a>; <a href='B:300 25:17'>Jer 25:17</a>). Jeremiah was therefore following in the steps of the Angel, just as we do when we go on missions which are clearly God’s will:&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><p>All the families of the north, says Yahweh- "Babylon" was not a pure nation but a coalition of various tribes.</p><p>And I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant- Judah liked to imagine that they were the "servant of Yahweh" spoken of in Isaiah’s recent prophecies. But thisdidn’t make them God’s people and therefore inviolate from judgment. Nebuchadnezzar was also Yahweh’s servant but would be judged for his actions.</p><h4>And will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations- The surrounding nations were those whom Judah had hoped would save them from Babylon, with whom they had committed whoredom by making contracts with them and accepting their gods.</h4>


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<p>Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp- Every humble home had at least a candle burning at night; the idea was that as with the destruction of Sodom, judgment would come suddenly, whilst they were marrying and giving in marriage. That ’suddenness’ is a theme of other prophecies; but in reality, Jerusalem fell predictably and inevitably after a period of siege. This was another element of the judgments which wasn’t carried out quite as stated, because in wrath God remembered mercy.</p>


text:
<p>This whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years- As explained on :12, this time period didn’t literally come true. It was a potential, one of many possible scenarios. The nations around Judah didn’t serve Babylon for 70 years. If the exiles had repented as intended, and had brought the other nations to accept Yahweh, then this may have been the scenario. But that didn’t happen, and so as explained on :12, the period was recalculated and reinterpreted. And as noted on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>, the land was not completely desolate for the 70 year period. A 70 year period of desolation for Tyre in <a href='B:290 23:17'>Isa 23:17</a> likewise didn’t have a literal fulfillment because various unstated preconditions weren’t met.</p>


text:
<h4>It shall happen that when seventy years are accomplished, then I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, says Yahweh, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever- From BC606, the fourth year of Jehoiakim (:1), to the fall of Babylon in BC539, is 67 years, not 70. So there was some flexibility in the time period. Yet the same 70 year period is mentioned in <a href='B:300 29:10'>Jer 29:10</a> in a prophecy apparently given 11 years later than that of <a href='B:300 25:12'>Jer 25:12</a>.</h4><p>The 70 years of Babylon’s mastery and Judah’s captivity were not strictly fulfilled to the letter. See on <a href='B:300 27:7'>Jer 27:7</a>. From the fall of Nineveh (612) to the fall of Babylon (539) was 73 years; or from Nebuchadnezzar’s accession (605) to Babylon’s fall (539) was 66 years (Dates taken from John Bright, Jeremiah (New York: Doubleday, 1965) p. 209). Was there a degree to which the period was prolonged or decreased, due to unstated variables- perhaps prayer, Judah’s repentance, Babylon’s repentance:::?</p><h4>Closer study reveals the variableness of outworking of the time periods. <a href='B:300 25:11-12'>Jer 25:11-12</a> and <a href='B:300 29:10'>Jer 29:10</a> speak of a 70 year period of Babylonian rule over Judah, beginning with the invasion of BC597. But Babylon only ruled over Judah for 49 years, before Babylon fell to the Persians. This would connect with the way that <a href='B:450 4:3'>Zec 4:3</a> speaks of 7 menorah candlesticks each with 7 lamps, making 49 lamps. 49 is the cycle of 7 Sabbath years that culminated in the jubilee year, and the jubilee year, the proclamation of liberty to the land (<a href='B:30 25:8-12'>Lev 25:8-12</a>; <a href='B:30 27:7-24'>Lev 27:7-24</a>) is a figure used so often in Isaiah to describe the freedom of Judah once released from Babylon. <a href='B:30 26:34'>Lev 26:34</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a> speak of the land enjoying her Sabbaths whilst Israel were in exile for their sins- i:e. for 49 years. So it seems that there could have been some restoration after 49 years- but it didn’t happen. But <a href='B:340 9:2'>Dan 9:2</a> and <a href='B:140 36:21'>2Ch 36:21</a> seem to reinterpret those 70 years of Jeremiah’s prophecies as speaking of a 70 year period during which Jerusalem and the temple would be desolate. And yet there again, Ezekiel was asked to prophecy that Judah would suffer for their sins for 40 years (<a href='B:330 4:6'>Eze 4:6</a>). Perhaps something could’ve happened after 40 years::. Perhaps some restoration could have happened to the ten tribes after 390 years (<a href='B:330 4:5'>Eze 4:5</a>), although there’s no sign it ever did. And then, the starting point of the 70 or 40 years was somewhat flexible- for <a href='B:330 22:3-4'>Eze 22:3-4</a> records Ezekiel’s prophecy that the desolation of Jerusalem by the Babylonians [the starting point of the time periods] was actually being hastened, brought forward, by the terrible behaviour of the Jews living there after the initial Babylon invasion of the land. In fact, if a person had been found who would have powerfully interceded for Jerusalem, ’stood in the gap’ (<a href='B:330 22:30'>Eze 22:30</a>), God wouldn’t have destroyed Jerusalem - "that I should not destroy it" is an allusion to Abraham interceding for Sodom in <a href='B:10 18:28'>Gen 18:28</a>. There were simply so many possible scenarios!</h4>


text:
<p>I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations- These are clearly the words written in the prophecies against Babylon and the other nations at the end of Jeremiah. The book of Jeremiah isn’t arranged chronologically; <a href='B:300 25:13'>Jer 25:13</a> sounds as if "this book" of Jeremiah had been finished at this point:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>For many nations and great kings shall make bond servants of them, even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands- Babylon would no longer be Yahweh’s servant, but would become the servants of other nations; see on :9. "Even of them" can be translated "of them also". The idea is that what was done to Israel by Babylon would be done to Babylon. But that isn’t really what happened when the Medes took Babylon and the Persian empire then came to dominate Babylon. "Babylonians" weren’t put into forced labour throughout the Persian empire; "make bond servants of them" is the language of what Egypt did to the Hebrews (<a href='B:20 1:14'>Exo 1:14</a>). God’s intended judgments of Babylon, as those He stated about Judah at this time, were ameliorated. Or we could say they were rescheduled and reapplied to the last days.</p>


text:
<h4>For thus says Yahweh the God of Israel to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it- As noted on :9, God had "sent" His Angel to "take" the Babylonians, and Jeremiah was following in the Angel’s steps. See on :17.</h4><h4>There can only be two exits from the Lord’s throne, to the right or to the left, and likewise we are faced with such a choice in our response to the bread and wine. The cup of wine is a double symbol- either of blessing (<a href='B:530 10:16'>1Co 10:16</a>; <a href='B:530 11:25'>1Co 11:25</a>), or of condemnation (<a href='B:230 60:3'>Psa 60:3</a>; <a href='B:230 75:8'>Psa 75:8</a>; <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:300 25:15'>Jer 25:15</a>; <a href='B:730 14:10'>Rev 14:10</a>; <a href='B:730 16:19'>Rev 16:19</a>). Why this use of a double symbol? Surely the Lord designed this sacrament in order to highlight the two ways which are placed before us by taking that cup: it is either to our blessing, or to our condemnation. Each breaking of bread is a further stage along one of those two roads.</h4>


text:
<h4>They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad- "Reel back and forth" is literally to be troubled (s:w. <a href='B:220 34:20'>Job 34:20</a>). What is in view is the dread fear of those who know they are about to receiving Divine condemnation. "Mad" is the Hebrew halal which is usually used about praise (s:w. <a href='B:300 20:13'>Jer 20:13</a>) which the nations shall finally give (<a href='B:300 31:7'>Jer 31:7</a> s:w:), although it can carry the sense of ’raving’. If madness was solely in view, another word would have been used. Perhaps the word choice was again to hint that they could come to repentance and praise of Yahweh as a result of the judgments- if they responded rightly</h4><h4>Because of the sword that I will send among them- Jeremiah was "sent" with the prophetic word to these nations (:15); but the sword was likewise "sent". Here again we see the power of God’s word; it is itself its fulfillment. This bracketing together of word and fulfillment explains why we can so positively consider that we "have" eternal life now whereas it is promised as a future experience.</h4>


text:
<p>Then took I the cup at Yahweh’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me- As noted on :9, God had "sent" His Angel to "take" the Babylonians, and Jeremiah was following in the Angel’s steps. If Jeremiah literally did this, it would have been a major and dangerous mission, taking much time. It could be understood as all happening only in vision.</p>


text:
<p>Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day- Judah was to suffer the judgments of the surrounding nations; just as those of the new Israel shall be "condemned with the world" which they had likewise identified with in their days of opportunity. The hissing and mocking was because Jerusalem had been praised in David’s psalms (e:g. <a href='B:230 48:2'>Psa 48:2</a>; <a href='B:230 50:2'>Psa 50:2</a>) as the joy of the whole earth and perfect in beauty (<a href='B:310 2:15'>Lam 2:15</a>). Those Psalms of David were well known; for David after the Bathsheba incident had vowed to preach the good news of Yahweh’s grace to the entire world. He had done so through his Psalms. His music ministry had been successful; the nations knew the songs about Zion being the joy of the whole earth and the perfection of beauty. And so they mocked it as it lay in ruins.</p>


text:
<p>Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people- They are mentioned first amongst the Gentile nations because it was upon them that Judah had placed so much hope, rather than in Yahweh, for deliverance from Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod- These towns were very near to Judah, and it seems Judah had tried to forge a coalition from these peoples against Babylon. They had made covenants with them all, on condition that Judah worshipped their idols. We can imagine this kind of thing going on in the latter day fulfillment of these words; Israel facing off against a superior enemy, seeking help from even the Palestinians / Philistines, rather than throwing themselves in repentance upon Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon- These nations were active in assisting the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem (<a href='B:230 137:7'>Psa 137:7</a>). But Judah had sought to make a covenant with them whereby they would fight against Babylon in their defence. The lovers turned against Judah the prostitute and helped burn her with fire. This is all the stuff of politics::. whereas faith in Yahweh was to be supreme.</p>


text:
<p>and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea- Or, by the sea coast. Perhaps the minor kings confederate with Tyre and the Phoenicians are in view.</p>


text:
<p>Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off- In <a href='B:300 9:26'>Jer 9:26</a>, Judah are listed as a nation who trimmed their beards like this, rather than being circumcised in heart. The surrounding nations had their various signs of identification, often connected with how their hair or beards were cut. The sign of identity God had chosen was not visible; it was upon the most concealed part of the male body. And this spoke of how the real sign of identity as God’s people was in fact nothing external, but in the state of heart, a way of thinking with the flesh cut off from it. This is why we may look the same as others in this world, on some counts. But the difference is in our hearts.</p>


text:
<p>and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness- These peoples were confederate with Babylon (<a href='B:300 51:37'>Jer 51:37</a>), but they are listed here as peoples with whom Judah had tried to make an alliance against Babylon. They turned against Judah and backed Babylon in the end, and then were destroyed by Babylon and by the destruction of Babylon at the hands of the Medes. All this kind of political intrigue will have its fulfillment in the last days too, and would be absolutely typical of Middle Eastern politics.</p>


text:
<p>and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes- These peoples had not yet developed into "Persia"; they were then just small tribes to the west of Babylon who were known to be against Babylon. And so Judah had sought their assistance against Babylon. The range of nations is lengthy, and reflects the desperate and extensive measures used by Judah to get human help against Babylon.</p>


text:
<h4>and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another- These nations all had their part in the Babylonian invasion, which is why they were to be punished in the end after Israel’s restoration from captivity (<a href='B:300 25:12'>Jer 25:12</a>). Ezekiel was prophesying about the time of the restoration- after 38,39 he goes on to give&nbsp; commands about how to rebuild the temple on their return from captivity. This is the context in which Ezekiel alludes back to Jeremiah 25.</h4><h4>And all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them- "Sheshach" is a code name for Babylon. The Jewish kabbalists had a system called athbash, whereby the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is read as the last one, the second letter as the second to last letter, etc. "Sheshach" is the spelling of "Babylon" according to this; and yet the word sheshach means "humiliation", which was to happen to Babylon (<a href='B:290 47:1'>Isa 47:1</a>). We wonder why Jeremiahat times uses this term whereas at other times he is clear that he refers to "Babylon". If he was scared of repercussions, then we wonder why at times he does refer to "Babylon". I suggest therefore that he is simply making the point that proud Babylon was to be humiliated. For the essence of all human sin is pride, and judgment is therefore about humiliating pride. And we are to humble ourselves now.</h4>


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<p>You shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies the God of Israel: Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you- The drunkard is initially attracted to the cup of wine, and so these nations eagerly accepted a part in the coalition to destroy Jerusalem.</p>


text:
<p>It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: You shall surely drink- Even if they perceived that temporary union with Babylon would be to their hurt (see on :27), they would still be punished for their sins.</p>


text:
<h4>For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by My name; and should you be utterly unpunished?- This could imply that the sin of the surrounding nations was like that of Judah; but <a href='B:300 2:10'>Jer 2:10</a> has stated that Judah’s sin was greater than theirs. So perhaps there is here too the hint that their sin was slightly less, but they would not be unpunished.</h4><h4>You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of Armies- <a href='B:330 38:21'>Eze 38:21</a> says that a sword will be called for against Gog and thus he will meet his end. This is quoting from <a href='B:300 25:29'>Jer 25:29</a>, where the context is of a group of surrounding nations invading the land and a sword being called upon them. There are several other links with the nations of Ezekiel 38 when we look closer at <a href='B:300 25:19-26'>Jer 25:19-26</a>. Edom, Moab, Ammon, Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish feature in Ezekiel 38 too, and this confirms by suggestion there that we are to read the text as suggesting that Sheba, Dedan and the merchants are part of the invading force in Ezekiel 38, not against it.</h4>


text:
<p>Therefore you must prophesy against them all these words and tell them, Yahweh will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will mightily roar against His fold; He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth- This would have been difficult for them to understand; the god of a city was supposed to defend his city. But Yahweh who lived in Zion, His holy habitation, would roar against His own people; and His wrath with Jerusalem would then go out against all the peoples of the eretz promised to Abraham, whose idols Judah had worshipped and brought into Zion.</p>


text:
<h4>A noise shall come even to the end of the land; for Yahweh has a controversy with the nations- "Controversy" is a legal case (s:w. <a href='B:20 23:2'>Exo 23:2</a>). It was a complicated case, with counter appeals which resulted in everyone being condemned- and yet Judah then being finally justified, by grace. Yahweh had this legal case with Judah, and then with the peoples who supported Babylon against her (<a href='B:300 25:31'>Jer 25:31</a>) and then He has this case against Babylon (<a href='B:300 51:36'>Jer 51:36</a>) during which He is advocate for Judah, whose cause He legally pleads in the court case (<a href='B:300 50:34'>Jer 50:34</a>) of which He is judge as well as advocate for the defence. Being both advocate and judge, we see the certainty of Judah’s final justification- if they chose to accept His amazing grace in justifying them.</h4><h4>He will enter into judgment with all flesh: as for the wicked, He will give them to the sword, says Yahweh- ’Entering into judgment’ is s:w. "plead". Condemnation is in a sense God’s appeal to us. Ezekiel often uses the word in speaking of how God will judge / condemn Israel. But he uses the same word when he speaks of how He will “plead” with Israel in their captivity in Babylon, i:e. in their condemnation experience (<a href='B:330 17:20'>Eze 17:20</a>); how He will plead with them as He pleaded with them whilst they were undergoing judgment in Egypt (<a href='B:330 20:35-36'>Eze 20:35-36</a> - s:w. “judge” <a href='B:330 20:4'>Eze 20:4</a>); and how He will “judge” or “plead” with Israel’s latter day invaders through the punishments He will bring upon them (<a href='B:330 38:22'>Eze 38:22</a>). When God gives those wicked people to the sword, He will be pleading / judging with “all flesh” (<a href='B:300 25:31'>Jer 25:31</a>); “For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead [s:w. judge] with all flesh” (<a href='B:290 66:16'>Isa 66:16</a>). They will be gathered to the valley of Jehoshaphat, so that the Lord can “plead [s:w. judge] with there for my people” (<a href='B:360 3:2'>Joe 3:2</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth- As explained on :31, all the nations were to be implicated in this great assize, and all were to be punished. The great storm from the borders of the land refers to the Babylonians, but the language of approaching storm is expressedby Ezekiel in terms of the cherubim of glory, Yahweh of hosts of heavenly armies, who was manipulating the Babylonian armies. In the latter day fulfillment, the final invader of Israel will be a group of nations orchestrated by a power likewise just beyond the borders of the eretz, somewhere like Iran.</p>


text:
<p>The slain of Yahweh shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground- This was the judgment to come upon Judah (<a href='B:300 8:2'>Jer 8:2</a>) but the idea is that the Gentile nations were to suffer the same judgment as Judah. There was to be no differentiation between Judah and the world around her when it came to judgment; because she had so fully entered into unity with them. Being left unburied was the ultimate shame for Middle Eastern folks of that time; perhaps the implication is that there would be such mass destruction that there would be none left to do the burying. And yet this scale of destruction didn’t happen after Jerusalem fell and Babylon turned upon its own coalition. The prophecy will come to its final term in the last days.</p>


text:
<h4>Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow in dust, you principal of the flock- The focus now returns to Israel, the "fold" of Yahweh whom He Himself would destroy (:30,37). The wallowing in the dust may have been a call to repentance; for this was the behaviour which Jeremiah here urges, rather than what was to happen in any case. Even though their destruction and dispersion was now certain, it seems they could still have repented, and thereby ameliorated the nature of that judgment. This self humiliation was to be practiced by the "principal" or "great ones" of the flock. They were themselves to repent of their pride.</h4><h4>For the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come, and you shall fall like a goodly vessel- "Dispersions" is the word used of the people at Babel (Babylon) being scattered abroad (<a href='B:10 11:4'>Gen 11:4</a>; <a href='B:10 11:8'>Gen 11:8</a>). Whilst the prophecy here seems to apply specifically to the shepherds of Israel (:34), it could be that the leaders of all the nations are in view. They were to fall as did Babel, and would be scattered from her. Consistently, the idea of scattering is used as part of condemnation; and true unity, therefore, is a sign of blessing. Division is therefore bringing about the self-condemnation of any believing community. In the specific context of Judah, the "dispersion" was not just into exile, but is used of the scattering of Zedekiah’s family and army (<a href='B:120 25:5'>2Ki 25:5</a>). But the pastors / shepherds of Judah had already scattered the people (s:w. <a href='B:300 23:1-2'>Jer 23:1-2</a>; <a href='B:330 34:21'>Eze 34:21</a>). Their scattering in judgment was only what in essence they had done themselves.</h4>


text:
<p>The shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape- This in the primary application speaks of the capture of Zedekiah and the "principal of the flock" (a phrase perhaps specifically referring to him) as they sought in vain to flee (<a href='B:120 25:5'>2Ki 25:5</a>). But it will come to final term in the last days. A desire to escape but having no place to run is a feature of the rejected at the last day (<a href='B:650 2:3'>Heb 2:3</a>, quoting <a href='B:290 20:6'>Isa 20:6</a> concerning the inability of men to escape from the approach of the invincible Assyrian army). <a href='B:730 20:11'>Rev 20:11</a> likewise speaks of the rejected ’heavens and earth’ fleeing from the Lamb’s throne and finding no place to go. Before the whirlwind of God’s judgment, the false shepherds of Israel "shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape" (<a href='B:300 25:35'>Jer 25:35</a>). The rejected will see that the Lord is coming against them with an army much stronger than theirs, and they have missed the chance to make peace (<a href='B:490 14:31'>Luk 14:31</a>). They will be like the Egyptians suffering God’s judgments in the Red Sea, wanting to flee but having no realistic place to run to. Uzziah hasting to go out from the presence of the Lord after he was judged for his sin was a foretaste of this (<a href='B:140 26:20'>2Ch 26:20</a>).</p>


text:
<p>A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal of the flock! For Yahweh lays waste their pasture- All throughout, it is Yahweh who is the "destroyer" [s:w. "lay waste"] through the hand of the surrounding peoples (s:w. <a href='B:300 15:8'>Jer 15:8</a>). This was in radical tension with the idea that a local god is always supportive of his people and always saves them. The God of Israel reveals a sensitivity to sin as fundamental to His character; and therefore He will judge and even destroy His own people rather than save them from their invaders.</p>


text:
<p>The peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of Yahweh- An intensive plural for the one great fold, of Zion (:30). "Jerusalem" mean literally "city of peace". The Biblical idea of peace is of peace between God and man, achieved through faith in His provided reconciliation. This had been spurned by Judah, and so His anger was such that "Jerusalem" could no longer be the city of peace; the intended fold of His sheep was to be "brought to silence" or "cut off" (s:w:). Yet it was Jeremiah who sat in silence in the ruins of Zion (<a href='B:310 3:28'>Lam 3:28</a> s:w:), totally identified with his sinful and judged people, in response to how there was to be no funeral wailing for the dead but rather, silence (<a href='B:330 24:17'>Eze 24:17</a>).</p>


text:
<p>He has left His den, as the lion; for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppression, and because of His fierce anger- The "He" in view is both Yahweh and the lion of Babylon. The invaders had now left their den in Babylon. Jeremiah could see it all, and sought to share his vision with Judah, inthe desperate hope that they might repent even on their deathbeds, as it were. Because the Jews had oppressed their brethren, they were to be oppressed (<a href='B:300 22:3'>Jer 22:3</a>; <a href='B:330 18:7'>Eze 18:7</a>; <a href='B:330 22:7'>Eze 22:7</a> s:w:). Our attitudes to our brethren likewise will be directly reflected back to us at the day of judgment.</p>


text:
<p>In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from Yahweh saying-&nbsp; <a href='B:300 26:2-6'>Jer 26:2-6</a> is a summary of the material in <a href='B:300 7:1-15'>Jer 7:1-15</a>. The book of Jeremiah isn’t arranged chronologically.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh: Stand in the court of Yahweh’s house and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them- This was probably not one of the outer gates, but one of the three gates which led from the inner court to the outer. Probably it was the gate where Baruch later recited the prophecies of Jeremiah, called "the new gate of the Lord’s house", located in the "upper" i:e. inner court (<a href='B:300 36:10'>Jer 36:10</a> cp. 26:10). Probably the time was one of the three great feasts, when the people of Judah would have come up to the temple.</h4><h4>Don’t diminish a word- Not only our salvation but that of others can be limited by our exercise of freewill. If others’ salvation is not dependent upon our preaching, then there is no meaning to the very concept of preaching. This is true to the extent that a watchman can occasion the death of those he could warn, if he doesn’t do it. And their blood [for they will die] will be required at his hand (<a href='B:330 33:8'>Eze 33:8</a>; <a href='B:330 33:13'>Eze 33:13</a>). The wicked will only turn from their ways if the watchmen warns them- and Ezekiel 33 shows clearly enough that the watchman can be lazy to fulfill his commission, with the result that some will die eternally who need not have done so. It’s not that another watchman is raised up to do the job- it is his responsibility, which he can discharge or not. God’s word has been delegated to us; to not speak it forth is therefore in a sense to diminish His word. Hence Jeremiah is told to "keep not back a word" of all God’s words (<a href='B:300 26:2'>Jer 26:2</a> AV; RV: "Diminish not a word"):&nbsp;Jeremiah is warned to “diminish not a word, if so be…” Israel may repent. His temptation of course was to water down the message which he had to deliver. But only the harder, more demanding side of God might elicit response in them. By making the message less demanding, it wouldn’t have any chance of eliciting a response.</h4>


text:
<h4>Perhaps they will listen, and turn every man from his evil way; so that I may repent Me of the evil which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings- See on <a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a>. God is willing to totally forgive the repentant sinner. He could just forgive men; it is within His power to do this. But He doesn’t. He allows His power to do this to be limited by the extent of our repentance. "If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them" (<a href='B:300 26:3'>Jer 26:3</a>). Likewise "Repent ye therefore… and be converted, that your sins may&nbsp; be blotted out::. Repent therefore::. and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may&nbsp; be forgiven thee" (<a href='B:510 3:19'>Act 3:19</a>; <a href='B:510 8:22'>Act 8:22</a>). The ability of God to forgive is controlled by our repentance ("that::. may"). This is used by Peter as the source of appeal for men to repent.</h4><h4>Paul used the terror of possible condemnation to persuade men (<a href='B:540 5:11'>2Co 5:11</a>). Interestingly, the very words which Jeremiah was tempted not to speak forth, so stern was their message of judgment to come, were what had the power to lead Israel to repentance (<a href='B:300 26:2-3'>Jer 26:2-3</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>You shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you- Properly ’listening’ means ’walking’ in practice. There is an acute difference between literally hearing and spiritually listening. The more familiar we are with the text of scripture, the stronger the temptation not to actually "listen". The law set before them may not refer to the Mosaic law, which was the basis of the old covenant which they had broken. Perhaps it refers to the new covenant, the new deal, which God through Jeremiah was setting before that generation.</p>


text:
<p>To listen to the words of My servants the prophets whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, to which you have not listened- The emphasis is upon the prophets who were Yahweh’s servants; because the false prophets were a major problem. The people preferred to listen to their words, rather than those of Yahweh’s true prophets.</p>


text:
<p>then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth- The ark had earlier been kept at Shiloh, and there the tabernacle was pitched (<a href='B:70 18:31'>Jdg 18:31</a>; <a href='B:90 1:3'>1Sa 1:3</a>). God apparently destroyed the tabernacle there (<a href='B:230 78:60'>Psa 78:60</a>) because of the kind of apostasy there practiced by Eli and his sons. Judah assumed that Jerusalem was inviolate, and was chosen by God over the worship system of the ten tribes in Samaria. But mere physical location and tradition do not make us inviolate to Divine judgment.</p>


text:
<p>The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh- The connection between priests and prophets was that the priests were to teach the word of Yahweh, and the false prophets gave them a false message to teach.</p>


text:
<h4>It happened that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him saying- We note that "all the people" were connected with the false prophets and their preachers, the priests. The "people love to have it so", and therefore the priests and prophets said what the people wanted to hear (<a href='B:300 5:31'>Jer 5:31</a>). This is why all society was to be punished.</h4><h4>You shall surely die- The words of condemnation spoken by God to Adam. They were not only playing God, saying what they thought and felt in the name of God; but we see how they considered any criticism of them to be the ultimate sin, like Adam’s disobedience in Eden.</h4>


text:
<p>Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? All the people were gathered to Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh- The implication was that they considered he was just speaking his words, whereas the true word of Yahweh was what they were speaking. We see here the power released by a guilty conscience- a mass desire to shoot the messenger, to avoid by all means the confrontation with God which sinful living must provoke. The desire to shoot the messenger and discredit the message is the same in essence behind those who wish to rubbish the Bible as the words of men and not of God. This has a subconscious moral basis to it.</p>


text:
<p>When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of Yahweh; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house- The idea is that they sat in judgment. They heard the case brought by the false prophets, priests and people. They heard the case in the temple rather than in the king’s palace because it was distinctly religious, and they were seeking a death penalty prescribed by the Mosaic law.</p>


text:
<p>Then spoke the priests and the prophets to the princes and to all the people saying, This man is worthy of death; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears- The princes were sitting in judgment, and the people were the audience. They were arguing that anyone who prophesied against Jerusalem was worthy of death. But it was God who had prophesied more than any against Jerusalem, through various prophets and not just Jeremiah. They were effectively wishing the death of God. See on :16 for the fickleness of "all the people".</p>


text:
<p>Then spoke Jeremiah to all the princes and to all the people saying, Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard- This is picking up on their idea that anyone who spoke "against this city" must die because they were speaking, therefore, against Yahweh. But Jeremiah’s point is that Yahweh had repeatedly spoken against His own city, and even His own house. They were reasoning as if Yahweh was but a tribal deity, who would always defend his own temple and city. They viewed the true God through the lens of how gods and religion was generally viewed; and that again is a challenge to our age.</p>


text:
<h4>Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Yahweh your God; and Yahweh will repent Him of the evil that He has pronounced against you- Perhaps their "ways" refer to the well trodden ways and paths of thought within the mind, reflected in "doings". "Amend" is the word used of how Cain was bidden "do well", to amend his ways, and a sin offering was even provided for him (<a href='B:10 4:7'>Gen 4:7</a>). Hereby Israel are set up as Cain, a parallel which the Lord (<a href='B:500 8:44'>Joh 8:44</a>) and New Testament writers also perceive. Judah had "trimmed" or "ammended" their ways to seek relationships with the surrounding nations (<a href='B:300 2:33'>Jer 2:33</a> s:w:), willing to accept their gods and whatever cult obligations to them which were required. But they would not amend their ways for Yahweh. "Amend" is the word translated ’to do well to’ in <a href='B:300 7:23'>Jer 7:23</a>. If they amended their ways, God would amend or change His plans f judgment. Here we behold the openness of God, His deep sensitivity to human repentance and change.</h4><h4>God was prepared to relent (<a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a>; <a href='B:300 26:3'>Jer 26:3</a>; <a href='B:300 26:13'>Jer 26:13</a>; <a href='B:300 26:19'>Jer 26:19</a>; <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>), and yet He says in <a href='B:300 4:28'>Jer 4:28</a> that He will not. This is not self-contradiction, but rather a reflection of the depth of how God’s compassion is finally greater than His judgment of sin. The whole mental and emotional trauma made God weary of all the relenting, so deeply did He feel it (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>But as for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as is good and right in your eyes- Having pleaded with Judah to repent, Jeremiah goes on to say: “But as for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as is good and right in your eyes” (<a href='B:300 26:13-14'>Jer 26:13-14</a> RV). It’s as if he doesn’t mind if they kill him because they misunderstand him, his passionate concern, far over-riding any desire for his own preservation, was that they should repent.</p>


text:
<h4>Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants- Even the pagans had a great fear of innocent blood being counted to them (<a href='B:390 1:14'>Jon 1:14</a>), and this was also inculcated in the Jews by the Mosaic legislation (<a href='B:50 19:10'>Deu 19:10</a>; <a href='B:50 21:8'>Deu 21:8</a>). We see here how the sins of a minority can lead to cursing upon a majority; all the inhabitants would be cursed if the princes had decided to kill Jeremiah. The effects of Adam’s sin were similar.</h4><h4>For of a truth Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears- The word spoken was not just a general truth; Yahweh’s word is a living word that is to come into the ears, intimately and personally, to every hearer. And the Bible to this day has the same effect.</h4>


text:
<h4>Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God- We wonder why there was this volte face. The warning about the possibility of guilt for innocent blood (:15) presumably struck home. We conclude therefore that they did have a conscience, somewhere. And that conscience was piqued. We may assume that the majority of our audience are conscienceless. But this isn’t the case. We are all made in the image of God, and thereby have a conscience. We note that "all the people" now sided with Jeremiah, when they had "all" sided with the false prophets in :11; and yet by :24 they were again seeking to put Jeremiah to death. This is one of many Biblical examples of how crowds are so fickle.</h4><h4>A study of “the princes” of Judah at the time of the final Babylonian invasion shows that they were not against Jeremiah nor responding to God’s word (<a href='B:300 26:16'>Jer 26:16</a>; <a href='B:300 36:14'>Jer 36:14</a>; <a href='B:300 36:19'>Jer 36:19</a>); indeed at one stage they pulled back from their path of refusing to respond (<a href='B:300 34:10'>Jer 34:10</a>). But “the princes” were the ones whom Zedekiah feared (<a href='B:300 38:25'>Jer 38:25</a>), and that fear led him to reject God’s word. And “the princes” were finally condemned for their weakness (<a href='B:300 32:32'>Jer 32:32</a>); it was they who imprisoned and sought to kill Jeremiah because ultimately they could not abide his word (<a href='B:300 37:15'>Jer 37:15</a>; <a href='B:300 38:14'>Jer 38:14</a>). One person or a very small group can easily lead a whole group, even of believers, into sin. And so it is that whole groups of people- even God’s people- can be very fickle. And quite simply, groups of people go against their own consciences, and then others, like Zedekiah, assume that they solidly hold positions which underneath they do not. Joseph’s brothers were similar. We need to see through all this, and realize that whatever facade may appear, people are subconsciously more sensitive to our message than may appear. This can be verified by a simple experiment. Stand on a busy street corner passing out tracts advertising a free coffee; and observe the reactions of those who take them. And then start passing out tracts advertising a free Bible or Gospel meeting; the reactions are quite different, because conscience has been confronted. See on :22</h4>


text:
<p>Then rose up certain of the elders of the land and spoke to all the assembled people saying- The "elders" are repeatedly presented as being against Yahweh and deeply culpable to judgment. And yet here we see that they had some kind of conscience, and awareness of historical and spiritual precedent. See on :16.</p>


text:
<p>Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Zion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest- This didn’t happen at the hands of the Assyrians, but it was deferred, reapplied and rescheduled to AD70 and the last days. And so the Babylonian judgment likewise could have been rescheduled or even ameliorated- if even a minority had repented at the time. But it seems there was no response to Jeremiah’s message at all.</p>


text:
<h4>Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn’t he fear Yahweh, and entreat the favour of Yahweh- "Entreat" is the word usually used for ’causing pain’. This shows the openness and sensitivity of God to human prayer and desire.</h4><p>And Yahweh relented of the disaster which He had pronounced against them? Thus should we commit great evil against our own souls- When Hezekiah studied the words of Micah, “did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil&nbsp; which he had pronounced against him” (<a href='B:300 26:19'>Jer 26:19</a>). Those words of <a href='B:400 3:12'>Mic 3:12</a>&nbsp; had their fulfillment annulled or delayed thanks to Hezekiah’s prayer and repentance. Likewise Jonah’s prophecy that in 40 days Nineveh would be destroyed, unconditionally, was nullified by their repentance. And so the judgment of Jerusalem was likewise open to negotiation right up to the last moment.</p><h4>Hezekiah obtained forgiveness and acceptance for those who kept the Passover “otherwise than it was written”- thanks to his prayer (<a href='B:140 30:18'>2Ch 30:18</a>). In Hezekiah’s time, all Israel had to repent to avert total destruction- but even though they didn’t, the prayer of Hezekiah saved the nation (<a href='B:300 26:13'>Jer 26:13</a>; <a href='B:300 26:19'>Jer 26:19</a>). All of Jerusalem would have been forgiven if there was even one that truly executed judgment, after the pattern of Phinehas (<a href='B:300 5:1'>Jer 5:1</a> - or is this a reference to Messiah?).</h4>


text:
<p>There was also a man who prophesied in the name of Yahweh, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah- It’s unclear whether this is another historical precedent quoted by the few elders of :17 in favour of not killing Jeremiah; or whether this was a counter precedent quoted by others at the court case of :10, justifying killing Jeremiah because another prophet had been killed for prophesying against Jerusalem. In any case, the fact that Uriah had been murdered for teaching what Jeremiah did remains as an indication of Jeremiah’s bravery in so publically and forcefully teaching that same message.</p>


text:
<p>and when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt- As noted on :20, Jeremiah would have been aware of this, and he would have been careful to go into Egypt not because he feared, but because rather did he totally identify with God’s apostate people. We too have situations like this, when we are forced to examine our motives; knowing that we can perform the same action from widely differing motives. And only we know our motives.</p>


text:
<p>and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt- This was significant effort. But Jehoiakim was so desperate to falsify God’s word about him that he went to all this trouble to destroy the messenger. See on :16. But God noted it all, and the name and father’s name of the man sent to do the dirty deed has been recorded all these centuries. He was likely the father in law of Jehoiakim (<a href='B:120 24:8'>2Ki 24:8</a>).</p>


text:
<p>and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people- These graves are only elsewhere referred to in <a href='B:120 23:6'>2Ki 23:6</a>, where we learn that Josiah in his reforms had desecrated these graves near Jerusalem because they were associated with idolatry. Perhaps they were the graves of those sacrificed to Baal (the victims likely included people other than children) This prophet was therefore treated as a sacrifice to Baal, and was likely killed therefore in loyalty to the Baal cult. The word of the false prophets and false gods had thus prevailed against the speaker of Yahweh’s word.</p>


text:
<h4>But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah- Ahikam was one of those who were involved with finding and interpreting the "book of the law" that was discovered and was the basis for Josiah’s reforms (<a href='B:120 22:12'>2Ki 22:12</a>; <a href='B:120 22:14'>2Ki 22:14</a>); his son Gedaliah appears to have been faithful and to also have cared for Jeremiah after Jerusalem fell (<a href='B:300 40:6'>Jer 40:6</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><h4>That they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death- We note that "all the people" sided with Jeremiah in :16, when they had "all" sided with the false prophets in :11; and yet now by :24 they were again seeking to put Jeremiah to death. This is one of many Biblical examples of how crowds are so fickle.</h4>


text:
<p>In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying- We have just read in <a href='B:300 26:20-24'>Jer 26:20-24</a> that Jehoiakim had sought out and killed a prophet who taught precisely what Jeremiah did. This serves to highlight Jeremiah’s bravery in so publically witnessing to the same truths. The LXX omits this verse, however; and it would seem from :3,12 that the section here refers not to Jehoiakim but to Zedekiah (cp. <a href='B:300 26:1'>Jer 26:1</a>). Some had already gone into captivity (:16). Some manuscripts read "Zedekiah" here:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh to me: Make bonds and bars and put them on your neck- Jeremiah personally was to experience the bonds and bars which he was telling others about. The "bonds" refer to the bonds connecting the two pieces of wood which formed the yoke. He was human and therefore in the position of everyone else. And this is to be the basis of our appeal to people likewise.</p>


text:
<p>and send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah- All this effort was to try to convert those nations; by humbling themselves beneath Babylon they were humbling themselves beneath Yahweh’s word and will. It was His intention that the peoples around Judah should repent along with Judah. "The messengers" were the representatives of those nations invited by Zedekiah in a bid to make alliances with them and thus form a coalition to protect them from Babylon. This is described elsewhere as prostitution. These envoys were to be sent back with yokes they were invited to wear, symbolizing their subjection to Babylon rather than their opposition to Babylon. Edom joined in the destruction of Jerusalem along with the Babylonians, but Babylon later turned against Edom and destroyed her. Jeremiah’s appeal at this point was not heard, and so we can imagine that the messengers refused to carry the yokes back to their rulers.</p>


text:
<p>and give them a command to their masters saying, Thus says Yahweh of Armies the God of Israel, You shall tell your masters- Yahweh had armies of Angels controlling and manipulating all human armies. The God of Israel was therefore in control of all the eretz; and Yahweh wanted them to accept that, which was tantamount to inviting them to accept Him as their God.</p>


text:
<p>I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the surface of the earth, by My great power and by My outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to Me- The nations on the eretz were no more than the animals, to whom God had also given their allotted portion. We note that there is no empirical reason given, no attempt at apologetics. This huge claim was simply made, and there was an internal credibility to it. And that is just the same today. God’s amazing claims are of themselves the appeal and their credibility is within their own message, and is not strengthened by any appeal to other back up support. The "outstretched" arm of Yahweh is a term associated with God’s redemption of Israel from captivity and bringing them into the eretz. This was to be His continued endpoint in view, the objective He had set in history, even if it were delayed, rescheduled and reapplied.</p>


text:
<p>Now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the animals of the field also have I given him to serve him- These animals may be simply parallel with the nations of :7; the same figure is in <a href='B:330 31:6'>Eze 31:6</a>; <a href='B:430 2:14'>Zep 2:14</a>. Note how Nebuchadnezzar is presented as serving God; and the other nations serve him, and if they do this willingly, then by extension, they would be Yahweh’s servants.</p>


text:
<p>All the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bond servant- I have repeatedly observed that God’s prophecies are conditional; indeed there are many different scenarios of judgment presented in Jeremiah, because the human variables (particularly of repentance) were themselves not forced by God, but the results of genuine human freewill decisions. And so the nations serving Babylon for the next three generations of Babylonian rulers is another example of one possible scenario which didn’t come about because various preconditions (perhaps invisible to us at this stage) weren’t met. The 70 year period of servitude to Babylon (<a href='B:300 25:11-12'>Jer 25:11-12</a>; Jer 2910) would certainly have to be understood not literally but as a round number. Nebuchadnezzar died B:C. 561, his son Evil-Merodach reigned only two years; then in&nbsp; B:C. 555 Laberosoarchod became king, but was deposed after nine months by a usurper from another family, Nabonedus or Nabunita, who ruled until B:C. 538, when Babylon fell. A literal "seventy years" from this point comes only to B:C. 555. See on :17.</p>


text:
<h4>It shall happen, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon- The symbolism of the yoke is explained in <a href='B:310 1:14'>Lam 1:14</a>, where it represents the yoke of sins. It is this which is lifted by the saving work of Yahweh in Messiah. To willingly place their necks under the yoke was to recognize they had sinned and deserved this. As noted on :6, Nebuchadnezzar is presented as serving God; and the other nations serve him, and if they do this willingly, then by extension, they would be Yahweh’s servants. Again we perceive that God was seeking to convert even the Gentiles.</h4><h4>That nation will I punish, says Yahweh, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the plague, until I have consumed them by his hand- There is no particular evidence that supernatural famines and plagues were used to destroy nations who resisted Babylon; as noted on :7, we are dealing here with a series of potential scenarios.</h4>


text:
<p>But as for you, don’t you listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon- This is an appeal to the nations to not listen to their own prophets, but to Jeremiah as the only true prophet. We marvel at God’s breadth of vision, initiative and wideness of hope to save- even these Gentile nations.</p>


text:
<p>for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and you should perish- "Remove you far" is a word used of Israel’s exile at the hands of their invaders (<a href='B:290 6:12'>Isa 6:12</a>; <a href='B:290 26:15'>Isa 26:15</a>). But this, like all judgments, was only a reflection of how they had gone far from God in their hearts (s:w. <a href='B:300 2:5'>Jer 2:5</a>; <a href='B:290 29:13'>Isa 29:13</a>).</p>


text:
<p>But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land, says Yahweh; and they shall till it, and dwell therein-&nbsp;This prophecy was consciously disobeyed by the Jews who remained in the land after Jerusalem fell; they fled to Egypt. We note the same conditions were given to Judah as to the Gentile nations around them; clearly it was the Divine intention that they should all repent together. To serve the king of Babylon was effectively to serve Yahweh, seeing he was Yahweh’s servant. "Till" and "serve" are the same Hebrew words. Serving their own land was to be service to Babylon. But they all wanted so much more, attracted as people are today by the promise of absolute freedom; when this is only possible through service to God in repentance:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h4>I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live- According to the apocryphal book of Baruch, the exiles asked for ‘deliverance’- but they redefined ‘deliverance’ as meaning being allowed to live prosperously in the land of their captivity (Bar_1:12 cp. 2:14), rather than being delivered from Babylon and returning to Judah. In a way, the book of Esther shows how God heard this prayer. But the book of Esther therefore has a sad ending, with the Jews prosperous, loved and respected, and even further away from returning to the land. Indeed, Bar_2:21 records them misquoting <a href='B:300 27:12'>Jer 27:12</a> about the need to obey the King of Babylon during their captivity, and understanding this as meaning they were to remain in Babylon! See on <a href='B:300 29:10'>Jer 29:10</a>.</h4><h4>In the future, at the Lord’s return, we will be saved from wrath (i:e. condemnation) through Christ (<a href='B:520 5:9'>Rom 5:9</a>). Whilst this has already been achieved in a sense, it will be materially articulated in that day- in that we will feel and know ourselves to be worthy of God’s wrath, but then be saved from it. We are all to some extent in the position of Zedekiah and the men of Judah, who was told that if they accepted God’s condemnation of them as just, and served the King of Babylon, then they would ultimately be saved; but if they refused to accept that condemnation, then they would be eternally destroyed (<a href='B:300 21:9'>Jer 21:9</a>; <a href='B:300 27:12'>Jer 27:12</a>). And the Babylonian invasion was a type of the final judgment.</h4>


text:
<p>Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?- Zedekiah refused to respond, and yet he did notactually die at the hand of the king of Babylon as here implied- not by sword, nor famine nor plague. He died of natural causes in prison (<a href='B:300 52:11'>Jer 52:11</a>). Again, God’s statements here are in terms of potential scenarios. Perhaps Zedekiah repented to some degree, and was as it were given credit for this. See on <a href='B:300 21:7'>Jer 21:7</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you- This was the classic message of false teachers- offering freedom, when in fact their message would make people slaves. Perhaps this was alluded to in <a href='B:680 2:19'>2Pe 2:19</a>: "Promising them liberty, while they are in fact slaves to corruption. For of whom a person is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage".</p>


text:
<p>For I have not sent them, says Yahweh, but they prophesy falsely in My name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you- The impression is given that the false prophets prophesied so that God could drive them out. God confirms people in whatever way they choose to go.</p>


text:
<p>Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people saying, Thus says Yahweh: Don’t listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you saying, Behold, the vessels of Yahweh’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you- The priests preached and taught the word they were given by the prophets. It was therefore important for the priests to listen to the true words of Yahweh and not the false ones. Jeremiah was a priest, and was asking his own family to therefore listen to him rather than the false prophets. The temple vessels had been taken away so that the temple couldn’t function properly. The idea was that the people would be drawn closer to God through realizing that He could be served without the ritual of the temple. And they would be driven to personal relationship with Him rather than depending upon any religious dimension.</p>


text:
<h4>Don’t listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: why should this city become a desolation?- The rhetorical questions are powerful; "Why die?" (:13). The city need not have "become a desolation"; and yet Jeremiah had prophesied 70 years of such "desolation" (s:w. <a href='B:340 9:2'>Dan 9:2</a>). As explained on :7, there were various prophetic scenarios possible at this time. God was so sensitive to human repentance, and the degree of it, that He set up all these various possible scenarios in response to how far they would repent.</h4>


text:
<h4>But if they be prophets, and if the word of Yahweh be with them, let them now make intercession to Yahweh of Armies, that the vessels which are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don’t go to Babylon- See on :22. The more valuable vessels had already been taken in Jehoiakim and Jeconiah’s time (:20). A true prophet would know that Yahweh’s word was that Jerusalem and the temple would fall; and knowing this, and knowing Yahweh, the true prophets would have prayed that the word in their mouths would not come true. There is a gap between the Divine statement and its fulfillment, and within that historical gap there was time and opportunity for repentance to change the stated outcome. And a true prophet, like Jeremiah, would have perceived this.</h4>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh of Armies concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city- The laver remained after the deportations of :20. This was significant, in that it meant that a way of cleansing and forgiveness was still open, right up to the last moment.</p>


text:
<p>which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem- Perhaps he didn’t take them because they were too heavy to easily transport. There is a parallel between the remaining vessels, and the remaining people. They were intended to see themselves as vessels in Yahweh’s service.</p>


text:
<p>yes, thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem- The implication is that some of the temple vessels had been moved to the royal palace, which had been built of cedar in an attempt to imitate the temple. And the king had moved some of the vessels of Yahweh’s house to his own house. This usage of the Divine for ourselves remains an abiding temptation, in essence, for all generations of God’s people.</p>


text:
<h4>They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I visit them, says Yahweh; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place- The vessels of the temple were to be taken to Babylon- so says <a href='B:300 27:22'>Jer 27:22</a> plainly enough. But if the false prophets had repented and prayed, the vessels would not be taken to Babylon (<a href='B:300 27:18'>Jer 27:18</a>). Prayer changes things, even the [apparently] expressly stated intention of God.</h4><h4>WhatJudah prayed for by the rivers of Babylon was indeed heard. There they had asked that God would “visit” them and “return” them (<a href='B:230 80:14'>Psa 80:14</a>). The same two Hebrew words are to be found in <a href='B:300 27:22'>Jer 27:22</a>, where we read that God would exile His people to Babylon and then “visit” them and make them “return”. We meet the same two words in <a href='B:430 2:7'>Zep 2:7</a>, where God would ‘visit and return’ the captivity of the remnant of Judah. But when God did “visit” His people, just as when He ‘visited’ His people in the gift of His Son, they didn’t want to ‘return’ or respond. Those who had desired ‘the day of the Lord’ at that time had been praying for it, when it was ‘to no end’ for them. And we have to ask ourselves whether we really mean our prayers for the Lord’s return. <a href='B:300 27:22'>Jer 27:22</a> predicted that God would “visit” His people and “bring them up”. Those very two words are found in the declaration of Cyrus as recorded in <a href='B:140 36:23'>2Ch 36:23</a>: “God hath charged [s:w. “visited”] me to build him a house in Jerusalem… who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up [s:w. “bring them up”]”. The most powerful monarch in the Middle East made the humanly bizarre and inexplicable command to “go up” to the land. ‘Going up’ and ‘visiting’ are language associated with Angels. The people were being encouraged to follow the cherubim-Angel. But most of the people said ‘No that’s fine, we’ll give some money, but we’ll stay here thanks. We won’t be ‘going up’’. And in essence, we are so similar as a community.</h4>


text:
<h4>It happened the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month- Hebrew thought tends to divide periods into two, the beginning and the end. So the fourth year of his reign could still be understood as "the beginning".</h4><h4>That Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of Yahweh, in the presence of the priests and of all the people saying- The temple was Jeremiah’s usual place of witness, as public as possible, standing there with the yoke upon his neck (:10); which was very brave, considering how unpopular and anti-establishment was his message.</h4>


text:
<p>Thus speaks Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon- This is typical of false teaching. A true fact (that the yoke of Babylon would one day be broken) was presented in such a context and frame of reference that it was seriously false. The Babylonian yoke was to be lifted only when Judah repented; and they had not done so.</p>


text:
<p>Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of Yahweh’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon- The specific detail, within exactly two years, is again typical of false prophets. They use detail as if to give credibility to their claims. But it is just an indication of how brazen they are in their falsity. As noted on :2, the characteristic of false teachers is that they twist God’s true word; in this case, the promise of <a href='B:300 27:22'>Jer 27:22</a> that ultimately the temple vessels would be restored to Zion. See on :6</p>


text:
<p>and I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon, says Yahweh; for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon- Again (see on :2,3), this was a twist of God’s true word. For Ezekiel, who was with those captives, had spoken of the possibility of their early restoration- if they repented. But like all people, they wanted the results of repentance and spirituality without the repentance and spiritual effort.</p>


text:
<p>Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of Yahweh- Perhaps "Hananiah" was a name chosen by this false prophet, for the name means ’Yah has favoured’, as if the promised time of grace and favour toward Zion had already come (alluding to the same words used in <a href='B:290 30:18-19'>Isa 30:18-19</a>; <a href='B:290 33:2'>Isa 33:2</a> etc:). It was one of the most continually attractive messages- the Kingdom without the path there, the crown without the cross.</p>


text:
<p>even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: Yahweh do so; Yahweh perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Yahweh’s house, and all them of the captivity, from Babylon to this place- As explained on :2-4, Hananiah was quoting true prophecies and yet saying they were to come about without any repentance. And Jeremiah recognizes this by saying that indeed these words will come true, but peace with God comes from relationship with Him and is not simply there for the wicked to grab.</p>


text:
<p>Nevertheless hear you now this word that I speak in your ears, and in the ears of all the people- This is the classic example of the need for God’s words to be understood in context and not out of context.</p>


text:
<p>The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of plague- The idea seems to be that the bulk of the prophetic revelation had been of suffering and judgment; this far outweighed the material about "peace" (:7), and there were no prophecies about "peace" which did not foresee judgment and suffering as required before that "peace" was experienced. This is equivalent to Paul’s comment that only through much suffering can we enter the Kingdom (<a href='B:510 14:22'>Act 14:22</a>).</p>


text:
<p>The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall happen, then shall the prophet be known, that Yahweh has truly sent him- See on :8. This seems to imply that no true prophet prophesied only peace to Israel- there was always an exposure of sin and an appeal to repentance. That was part of their ministry. And it was directed at the people of God, for the most part- to us, the ecclesia. And it’s indifference, lack of passion, which, it seems to me, is the besetting tragedy of our age. When did you last really shed tears? When were you moved, really wrenched in your gut, by the suffering of others, by the sin of this world, your own sin, your part in humanity’s tragic rejection of God… when did you last feel for God in His pain, as He sees His beloved children and creation walk away from Him day after day, second after second? When did you last feel ecstatic joy, deep sadness… in this post-modern world of surface level emotion? It’s in all this that the words of the prophets and their personal nature as people challenge us- and their spirit is to be the spirit of our testimony to Jesus in this world.</p>


text:
<p>Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and broke it- Hananiah realized that Jeremiah was preaching that the time of peace could only come by submitting to the yoke of Babylon in recognition of their sinfulness. It was only God who could lift that yoke, and Hananiah was claiming that he was acting on God’s behalf. This truly was preaching peace with God when there could be no peace to the wicked.</p>


text:
<p>Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people saying, Thus says Yahweh: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations. The prophet Jeremiah went his way- There are times when there is no point in arguing back against dogmatic liars and false teachers. Jeremiah would have gone his way to the jeers of the crowd; for Hananiah doubtless spoke with eloquence and calm dogmatism. It was only a specific call from Yahweh which meant that Jeremiah did, later, make a response. At the time, he simply walked away. Walking away is no sign that we have lost the argument; we are not called upon to argue back. God’s truth will of itself be justified.</p>


text:
<p>Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah saying- See on :11. It was God’s preference to allow the people to weigh up the two alternative ’words from Yahweh’ which they had heard.</p>


text:
<p>Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says Yahweh: You have broken the bars of wood; but you have made in their place bars of iron- To be placed under a yoke of iron was the punishmentfor breaking the old covenant (<a href='B:50 28:48'>Deu 28:48</a>). Suddenly the significance of Jeremiah’s wooden yoke became apparent; they could have chosen a far ameliorated version of judgment, if they had recognized their sins. But that possibility was now withdrawn. God likewise works with people today. The implication of the grammar here is that the iron yoke had been made by Hananiah. By refusing the ties that bind, they become heavier. Man’s search for ultimate freedom is in vain, unless we accept the servitude God offers.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the animals of the field also- The reference to the animals may simply be an expansion of the idea of the nations having been given to him. Or perhaps there was a sense in which even the natural creation recognized that they had a new human master. This was to be the extent of God’s communication of this truth. We note that the iron rather than the wooden yoke was placed upon the Gentile nations because of Hananiah’s awful sin and the way Judah eagerly believed him (:13). If they had rejected him and accepted Jeremiah’s message, then the yoke of Babylon upon the nations would have been lighter; and had they accepted Nebuchadnezzar as being Yahweh’s servant and thereby willingly served Him through serving Babylon, it would have been broken altogether. So much was potentially possible for the Gentiles had Judah repented.</p>


text:
<p>Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah: Yahweh has not sent you; but you make this people to trust in a lie- The invitation to Hananiah to "hear::." was because this was an appeal for his repentance. The planned death of Hananiah could have not happened, had he repented. He didn’t, and the people willingly believed his lies, because it was a message they were predisposed to accept. This is why false teaching is listened to. It is a question of moral rather than intellectual failure.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will send you away from off the surface of the land: this year you shall die, because you have spoken rebellion against Yahweh- He had a year to repent, but he didn’t, and the fact he died only two months later suggests he hardened himself in his false message (:17). To refuse the yoke of Babylon was rebellion against Yahweh. For Nebuchadnezzar was Yahweh’s servant, and so accepting bondage to him was accepting servitude to Yahweh. The allusion is to <a href='B:50 13:5'>Deu 13:5</a>, where the false prophet who spoke rebellion against Yahweh was to be killed (s:w:), because he was bringing the people back into bondage. This is the great paradox- that refusal of the ties that bind to God is a return to bondage. And accepting His bondage is freedom.</p>


text:
<p>So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month- He died two months later (:1), perhaps alluding to his claim that the yoke would be broken within two years.</p>


text:
<p>Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon- This prophecy is in line with that of the good and bad figs of Jeremiah 24. The good figs were to be those who had first gone into captivity, who were to repent and then return; the bad figs referred to Zedekiah and his courtiers, and he is referred to as this in :17. But as noted on Jeremiah 24, that prophecy had only potential fulfillment and did not come true as potentially possible. That must be remembered in interpreting what follows here.</p>


text:
<p>(after that Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem)- These craftsmen may have been deported because they had helped build defences against the Babylonians. But the words are also used for the formers of idols; perhaps they were taken away so that those who remained would have less chance of committing idolatry and would repent.</p>


text:
<p>by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying- Zedekiah was Babylon’s puppet king and so there was regular sending of messengers between the two cities.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon- The reminder was that the carrying into captivity had been done by God; the Babylonians were His servants, their armies controlled by Yahweh of armies. They were to realize this, and serve Babylon as if serving Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit- This was a direct quotation from <a href='B:290 65:21'>Isa 65:21</a> and <a href='B:370 9:14'>Amo 9:14</a> about the situation in the Kingdom of God. Whilst waiting for the restoration of that Kingdom, they were to live the kingdom life as far as possible in exile; just as we are to live the life of the Kingdom, the eternal life, in this life. See on <a href='B:300 30:18'>Jer 30:18</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and don’t be diminished- This would be stating the obvious unless we understand it as meaning that the Jews were being encouraged to intermarry with the people of Babylon. This was a special dispensation for a special occasion; because as noted on :7, the Divine intention was that Babylon should repent, and along with repentant Judah become part of a restored Kingdom of God on earth based in Zion.</p>


text:
<p>Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you shall have peace- "Peace" is often peace with God. Babylon could have repented; see on :6 and <a href='B:300 51:8-9'>Jer 51:8-9</a>. <a href='B:300 33:6'>Jer 33:6</a>; <a href='B:300 43:12'>Jer 43:12</a> can be read as meaning that it was God’s intention that Babylon too should find peace with Him; Babylon’s peace was to be that of Judah:&nbsp; From Zion, peace would be spoken to the Gentiles (<a href='B:450 9:10'>Zec 9:10</a>). They were to pray for "peace" upon Babylon in the sense of peace with God; but either they didn’t pray for this, returning to their nationalism and racial elitism; or Babylon didn’t want it. Hence the predictions of the destruction of Babylon in later Jeremiah.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Don’t let your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed- The prophets were "in the midst" of Jerusalem, in Zion itself. The common people caused the false prophets to dream their dreams; the expectations and hopes of the masses were perceived by the false prophets, and they perhaps genuinely dreamed what the people wanted; but those dreams were not of God but just the usual outcome of subconscious psychological forces in the Freudian sense.</p>


text:
<p>For they prophesy falsely to you in My name: I have not sent them, says Yahweh- As explained on :8, it is one thing to have a dream, as the normal outcome of unconscious psychological forces; but it is quite another to falsely claim that this is from God. It is a playing God in the worst way.</p>


text:
<h4>For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform My word of grace towards you, in causing you to return to this place- The 70 year period of <a href='B:300 25:11-12'>Jer 25:11-12</a> didn’t come true exactly. The 70 years of Babylon’s mastery and Judah’s captivity were not strictly fulfilled to the letter. See on :32 and <a href='B:300 27:7'>Jer 27:7</a>; <a href='B:300 31:22'>Jer 31:22</a>. That period was to involve the surrounding nations being subject to Babylon for that period. It was a potential, one of many possible scenarios. The nations around Judah didn’t serve Babylon for 70 years. If the exiles had repented as intended, and had brought the other nations to accept Yahweh, then this may have been the scenario. But that didn’t happen, and so as explained on <a href='B:300 25:12'>Jer 25:12</a>, the period was recalculated and reinterpreted. And as noted on <a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>, the land was not completely desolate for the 70 year period. A 70 year period of desolation for Tyre in <a href='B:290 23:17'>Isa 23:17</a> likewise didn’t have a literal fulfillment because various unstated preconditions weren’t met. From BC606, the fourth year of Jehoiakim (<a href='B:300 25:1'>Jer 25:1</a>), to the fall of Babylon in BC539, is 67 years, not 70. So there was some flexibility in the time period. Yet the same 70 year period is mentioned here in <a href='B:300 29:10'>Jer 29:10</a> in a prophecy apparently given 11 years later than that of <a href='B:300 25:12'>Jer 25:12</a>.</h4><p>So the 70 years of Babylon’s mastery and Judah’s captivity were not strictly fulfilled to the letter. From the fall of Nineveh (612) to the fall of Babylon (539) was 73 years; or from Nebuchadnezzar’s accession (605) to Babylon’s fall (539) was 66 years (Dates taken from John Bright, Jeremiah (New York: Doubleday, 1965) p. 209). Was there a degree to which the period was prolonged or decreased, due to unstated variables- perhaps prayer, Judah’s repentance, Babylon’s repentance:::?</p><p>Closer study reveals the variableness of outworking of the time periods. <a href='B:300 25:11-12'>Jer 25:11-12</a> and <a href='B:300 29:10'>Jer 29:10</a> speak of a 70 year period of Babylonian rule over Judah, beginning with the invasion of BC597. But Babylon only ruled over Judah for 49 years, before Babylon fell to the Persians. This would connect with the way that <a href='B:450 4:3'>Zec 4:3</a> speaks of 7 menorah candlestickseach with 7 lamps, making 49 lamps. 49 is the cycle of 7 Sabbath years that culminated in the jubilee year, and the jubilee year, the proclamation of liberty to the land (<a href='B:30 25:8-12'>Lev 25:8-12</a>; <a href='B:30 27:7-24'>Lev 27:7-24</a>) is a figure used so often in Isaiah to describe the freedom of Judah once released from Babylon. <a href='B:30 26:34'>Lev 26:34</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a> speak of the land enjoying her Sabbaths whilst Israel were in exile for their sins- i:e. for 49 years. So it seems that there could have been some restoration after 49 years- but it didn’t happen. But <a href='B:340 9:2'>Dan 9:2</a> and <a href='B:140 36:21'>2Ch 36:21</a> seem to reinterpret those 70 years of Jeremiah’s prophecies as speaking of a 70 year period during which Jerusalem and the temple would be desolate. And yet there again, Ezekiel was asked to prophecy that Judah would suffer for their sins for 40 years (<a href='B:330 4:6'>Eze 4:6</a>). Perhaps something could’ve happened after 40 years::. Perhaps some restoration could have happened to the ten tribes after 390 years (<a href='B:330 4:5'>Eze 4:5</a>), although there’s no sign it ever did. And then, the starting point of the 70 or 40 years was somewhat flexible- for <a href='B:330 22:3-4'>Eze 22:3-4</a> records Ezekiel’s prophecy that the desolation of Jerusalem by the Babylonians [the starting point of the time periods] was actually being hastened, brought forward, by the terrible behaviour of the Jews living there after the initial Babylon invasion of the land. In fact, if a person had been found who would have powerfully interceded for Jerusalem, ’stood in the gap’ (<a href='B:330 22:30'>Eze 22:30</a>), God wouldn’t have destroyed Jerusalem - "that I should not destroy it" is an allusion to Abraham interceding for Sodom in <a href='B:10 18:28'>Gen 18:28</a>. There were simply so many possible scenarios!</p><h4>Bar_6:2 is perhaps the most serious example of misquoting and willfully misunderstanding God’s word. Here, Baruch [as Jeremiah’s scribe] changes the prophecy of <a href='B:300 29:10'>Jer 29:10</a>, that Israel were to be 70 years in Babylon and then return: “When you reach Babylon you will be there many years, a period seven generations long, after which I will bring you back”. The 70 years are turned into seven generations. This was precisely the mindset spoken against in <a href='B:440 1:2'>Hag 1:2</a>, whereby the Jews reasoned that the time had not yet come to rebuild the temple. “The time” referred to the time spoken of by Jeremiah- but Baruch had re-interpreted the 70 years as meaning seven generations. And yet all this was done with a surface-level reverence for God’s word- the exiles considered themselves blessed because they had God’s law (Bar_4:4). Indeed, much of Baruch is a condemnation of idols and a demand to worship Yahweh. See on <a href='B:300 27:12'>Jer 27:12</a>.</h4>


