# commentaries

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<h4>For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil- The same words are found in <a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a>; God will indeed think evil towards His people if they do not repent; but He says now that He thinks not evil but peace. This could be a reflection of His desperate hope and assumption that they would repent; or it could simply be that the pole of His desire for peace with men is finally stronger than His legitimate need to bring the evil of judgment upon them.</h4><p>To give you hope and a future- God gave Judah in captivity “hope in your latter end” (RV)- a hope of restoration at the end of the 70 years. Yet they preferred the Babylon life, and rejected this hope. “Ye shall seek me…and I will be found of you” (<a href='B:300 29:14'>Jer 29:14</a>) then becomes a conditional statement- then, if they sought the Lord, they would have been found of Him.</p><h4>Stand and watch a stream of people passing along a busy street. The eager young woman, the tired, worried business man, the young father, the old, sick man, the middle aged woman with the blank eyes::. the greatest tragedy to me is not so much death, that one day relatively soon these faces will all be face down or face up in the dust of death, but rather::. the tragedy is surely that they are living life without purpose. But for us, we recognize that God has a plan for us- and that plan is positive, to do us good and not harm in our latter end. Nothing is insignificant in our lives. Even the smallest incidents have significance for our character development. No meeting with anyone is a chance; we have the power of eternal life in our clumsy hands, through knowing the Gospel of life. Whoever we meet we are surely intended to meet, and extend the hope of life to them. Having a sense of purpose simplifies life. There are less choices; we don’t over-extend ourselves trying to do too much, with all the stress and conflict which this results in. It is meaningless work rather than overwork that wears us down and robs us of our joy.</h4>


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<p>You shall call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you- As explained on :11, God is assuming Israel’s repentance. Here we have His fantasy, if you like, of God for Israel. They would call upon Him and want to "go and pray to Me", in Jerusalem; and He would confirm that desire by miraculously returning them to Zion. But they didn’t repent. And yet He still caused Cyrus to give the decree encouraging them to return- such was His desire to as it were force through His saving purpose with His people. That most of them didn’t respond even to that is terrible, just as it is today.</p>


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<h4>You shall seek Me and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart- Repentance and seeking God are related; thus Israel’s restoration came when they were seeking&nbsp; God and (i:e:) repented (<a href='B:300 29:12-14'>Jer 29:12-14</a>). However, there is good reason to think that Israel at this time were still spiritually weak; some of them had a desire to seek righteousness, and God accepted this. The connection between repentance and seeking God means that to withdraw fellowship from someone for not repenting enough, is to disfellowship them for not seeking God enough. The implication is that the rest of us have sought God enough- and therefore found Him. This is pure self-righteousness. In conclusion, God wants us to be seeking Him, but this seeking God does not imply complete repentance and forsaking of sin. There seems no reason to think that we should break fellowship with someone for not seeking God enough, if we admit that they are not seeking evil.</h4><h4>The LXX suggests that the praying and seeking was perhaps a condition of fulfillment: “And do ye pray to me, and I will hearken:::and do ye earnestly seek me, and ye shall find me”. But the next verses go on to say that because they had false prophets in Babylon, the wrath of God was against them all, and even those in the land would suffer because of them. And further (29:23-26), they committed adultery and vied for leadership amongst themselves. Judah did return, but evidently they didn’t seek Yahweh with all their hearts beforehand. And thus they were not fully found of Him, and He did not therefore fully turn away their captivity. Indeed, by choosing to remain in Babylon, they themselves disallowed this turning away of their captivity.</h4>


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<p>I will be found by you, says Yahweh, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Yahweh; and I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive- As explained on :11,12, God is assuming Israel’s repentance. Here we have His fantasy, if you like, of God for Israel. They would call upon Him and want to "go and pray to Me", in Jerusalem (:12); and He would confirm that desire by miraculously returning them to Zion. God gave Judah in captivity “hope in your latter end” (:11 RV)- a hope of restoration at the end of the 70 years. Yet they preferred the Babylon life, and rejected this hope. “Ye shall seek me…and I will be found of you” (<a href='B:300 29:14'>Jer 29:14</a>) then becomes a conditional statement- then, if they sought the Lord, they would have been found of Him.</p>


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<p>Because you have said, Yahweh has raised us up prophets in Babylon- Just as the faith of others can lead to forgiveness and salvation of third parties in some cases (see on <a href='B:480 2:5'>Mar 2:5</a>), so the opposite can be the case. Because the exiles in Babylon chose to believe their false prophets and disbelieve Ezekiel who was there with them, therefore the "bad figs" would indeed be bad figs; those left in Judah were to receive judgment. Whereas in the Divine economy, those "bad figs" could have been saved by the repentance of the exiles who were already in Babylon. A lot depended upon that group, as Ezekiel often reminds them. See on :22.</p>


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<p>thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven’t gone forth with you into captivity- As explained on :15, although these men were evil, God was prepared to avert or ameliorate their judgment for the sake of the spirituality and repentance of the exiles already in Babylon.</p>


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<p>thus says Yahweh of Armies; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can’t be eaten, they are so bad- See on :1. As explained on :15, the "vile figs" were indeed "vile", but their judgment could have been averted or ameliorated for the sake of the spirituality and repentance of the exiles already in Babylon.</p>


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<h4>I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment- 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.</h4><h4>And a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them- 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.</h4>


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<p>because they have not listened to My words, says Yahweh, with which I sent to them My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, says Yahweh- Those left in Jerusalem were indeed"vile figs"and had refused the prophetic word of Jeremiah and other true prophets. But they could have been forgiven for that for the sake of the repentance of the exiles in Babylon. Likewise the paralyzed man of <a href='B:480 2:5'>Mar 2:5</a> had his sins forgiven for the sake of the friends. Just as happened when Job prayed for his friends.</p>


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<p>Hear therefore the word of Yahweh, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon- As noted on :1, this prophecy 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.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall kill them before your eyes- The"lie"was that of the serpent,"you will not really die", you have not sinned and will not sin, it is Yahweh who is being unreasonable with you::. These false prophets were presumably targeted by Nebuchadnezzar because they predicted his overthrow and the restoration of the Jewish kingdom. But that was precisely the message of Jeremiah; but he was treated well by the Babylonians, because he saw these things as dependent upon Jewish servitude to Nebuchadnezzar, who he presented as a servant of Yahweh.</p>


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<p>and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon saying, Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire- Again we see the fickleness of God’s people when they act en masse. They eagerly believed these men (:15), and then cursed them when they were burnt to death in the fiery furnace. Daniel’s faithful friends had been saved out of that same furnace; perhaps they had blasphemously claimed to be equal to them, and certain of preservation likewise.</p>


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<p>because they have worked folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I didn’t command them; and I am He who knows, and am witness, says Yahweh- The uninspired apocryphal book of Susanna claims that two false prophets who were her neighbours tried to rape her in a park in Babylon, but she resisted them. She complained of their behaviour, but they falsely accused her and she was condemned to death- to be saved by the intervention of Daniel the prophet, who had the two rapists condemned to death. Whether this is true or not can never be known, but it would slot in at this point with the inspired account. And again we see that false teaching is nearly always associated with immorality, often in the sexual sense- rather than being a genuine intellectual misunderstanding.</p>


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<p>Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak saying-"Nehelamite"is literally a dreamer, a false prophet.</p>


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<p>Thus speaks Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, saying, Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests saying- He wrote probably in the name of God; but God knew that he wrote only in his own name. Just as the prophets had their own dreams, but played God by claiming they were speaking in God’s Name. This confusion between our name and God’s Name is just as tempting today; e:g. the pastor who claims he has had a word from the Lord which requires his congregation to buy him an expensive luxury item.</p>


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<p>Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Yahweh, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles- If Zephaniah son of Maaseiah (:25) was the brother of the false prophet in Babylon, Zedekiah son of Maaseiah (:21), then the political intrigue and nepotism is clear. This was of men and not God. The supposed command from Yahweh to put false prophets who were mad into the stocks runs quite contrary to the spirit of the law of Moses. Death was the punishment for false prophets, not public mockery. And mental instability was never a cause for punishment under Yahweh’s law; that is the stuff of pure paganism. We note that both the Lord and Paul were likewise accused of madness, just as we too are viewed as"crazy"and"fools"by secular society.</p>


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<p>Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you- Jeremiah accused the false prophets likewise of making themselves prophets. Clearly one side was right and the other wrong. The whole thing was set up like this so that the spiritually minded would intuitively perceive where the truth was.</p>


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<p>because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long: build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit?- By implication, the message therefore of the false prophets was that the captivity would be short, and perhaps instead of submitting to Babylon as a sign of their repentance and settling in there, the false prophets were teaching rebellion against Babylon.</p>


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<p>Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet- This was all in public, at the temple, in some kind of public trial</p>


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<p>Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah, saying- This was presumably at the same time as the public trial (:29). Or maybe Jeremiah walked away with nothing more to say, leaving the people to perceive intuitively where truth lay. And then Yahweh spoke.</p>


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<p>Send to all them of the captivity saying, Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie- Causing to trust in a lie was the essence of the sin in Eden; the events there are the prototype of all subsequent human failure. The accusation that they had willingly trusted in lies is found throughout Jeremiah (s:w. <a href='B:300 7:4'>Jer 7:4</a>; <a href='B:300 7:8'>Jer 7:8</a>; <a href='B:300 13:25'>Jer 13:25</a>; <a href='B:300 28:15'>Jer 28:15</a>). 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>


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<p>therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he see the good that I will do to My people, says Yahweh, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh- The implication is that that generation would"see the good that I will do to My people"; but Shemaiah would die prematurely and would not see it. This is further evidence that the idea of 70 years captivity was not the only possible prophetic scenario at the time; see on :10.</p>


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<p>The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying- Previously in Jeremiah there has been the implication that right up to the last minute, the fall of Jerusalem and exile was avoidable by repentance. Now in Jeremiah 30-34 we have the tacit assumption that this will indeed happen, but the focus is upon the future restoration from that calamity, and the way it was designed to elicit repentance.</p>


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<p>Thus speaks Yahweh, the God of Israel saying, Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book- This may refer specifically to Jeremiah 30-34, the prophecies of the restoration which were to be the spiritual handbook for the exiles, in that their experiences were to be understood in this context as leading them to repentance.</p>


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<p>For, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will turn again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says Yahweh; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it- Time and again, Jeremiah had prophesied how Yahweh would bring again His people and the vessels of the temple back to the land (<a href='B:300 30:3'>Jer 30:3</a>; <a href='B:300 30:18'>Jer 30:18</a>; <a href='B:300 31:23'>Jer 31:23</a>); and this all had a fulfillment in the return from captivity under Ezra and Nehemiah. It was then that in some sense Yahweh ‘brought again Zion’ (<a href='B:290 52:8'>Isa 52:8</a>). The very same word used by Joel [translated “bring again”] is to be found in the references to Judah’s return at the restoration (<a href='B:150 2:1'>Ezr 2:1</a>; <a href='B:150 6:21'>Ezr 6:21</a>; <a href='B:160 7:6'>Neh 7:6</a>; <a href='B:160 8:17'>Neh 8:17</a>). The same word is to be found in <a href='B:330 38:8'>Eze 38:8</a>; <a href='B:330 39:27'>Eze 39:27</a>, where again, the invasion is to happen once Judah had been ‘brought again’ from captivity. Judah returned, and yet they didn’t rebuild the temple as they were commanded. Therefore the invasion didn’t come, and therefore the Kingdom wasn’t then established. Their return from exile at what is called ’the restoration’ wasn’t associated with a return to God in repentance; and so these prophecies have been reapplied and rescheduled, to the repentance of a new, spiritual Israel under the new covenant in Jesus Christ; and to the final repentance and return of God’s natural people.</p>


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<p>These are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah- It was God’s intention that the experience of repentance and receipt of grace would lead to both Judah and the ten tribe Israel being united, and returning as united to Zion. This didn’t happen, but the unity of the new Israel is predicated upon these experiences (and not simply upon a common theology).</p>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and notof peace- It was God’s intention to bring peace at that time, peace with Him through repentance (see on <a href='B:300 29:11'>Jer 29:11</a>), but instead their lack of repentance left them in chronic fear and trembling at the prospect of destruction by Babylon. They should have trembled (s:w:) at God’s word in repentance (<a href='B:150 9:4'>Ezr 9:4</a>; <a href='B:150 10:3'>Ezr 10:3</a>; <a href='B:290 66:2'>Isa 66:2</a>; <a href='B:290 66:5'>Isa 66:5</a>); but they now trembled at the prospect of condemnation. Whichever way, man comes to trembling before his God. And we are to tremble and repent, rather than trembling in the condemnation of the last day.</p>


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<p>Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?- The psychological collapse of the condemned is a major theme of the prophecies of judgment. But even in the figure of men becoming like travailing women, there is within the metaphor the hope of new birth. GNB"Can a man give birth to a child?"suggests that what might seem impossible would in fact be brought about by God’s grace."Waist"is GNB"stomach".</p>


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<p>Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it- The Divine intention was that the Babylonian invasion and destruction of Jerusalem was to be unprecedented. But <a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a> reapplies this language to the last days, when Jacob’s final time of trouble will be ended by the resurrection from the dead at the coming of"Michael", representing the Lord Jesus. The planned potential didn’t happen at the time of Babylon, but these words will come to their final term in the last days. Jacob’s previous ’times of trouble’ had all been at the hands of their neighbouring enemies (<a href='B:70 10:14'>Jdg 10:14</a>; <a href='B:160 9:27'>Neh 9:27</a>; <a href='B:300 14:8'>Jer 14:8</a>) and Esau, and so it shall be in the final time of trouble for Jacob. The salvation of Jacob from the time of trouble is however defined in <a href='B:300 15:11'>Jer 15:11</a> as being through the salvation of a remnant of them.</p>


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<p>It shall come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds; and strangers shall no more make him their bond servant- The pure grace of God’s dealings with Jacob is brought out in how <a href='B:300 30:7-8'>Jer 30:7-8</a> prophecies that in the time of Jacob’s trouble, “I will break his [the invader’s] yoke from off thy neck. This was the promise given to Esau- and one could say that Jacob having got all he did, at least Esau should be allowed to have the little promise given to him. But now even this is given to Jacob- at the time of his ‘trouble, his final down treading for centuries of disobedience. Judah had"broken the yoke and burst the bonds"of their covenant relationship with God (<a href='B:300 5:5'>Jer 5:5</a>), but He by grace had broken the yoke and bonds of those who enslaved them (<a href='B:300 2:20'>Jer 2:20</a>; <a href='B:300 30:8'>Jer 30:8</a>).</p>


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<p>But they shall serve Yahweh their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them- The yoke of servitude to Babylon was to be replaced by the lighter yoke of servitude to Yahweh and"David", a Messianic ruler in the line of David. This could have been Zerubbabel, but he failed; and so clearly the prophecy has final fulfillment in the Lord Jesus, who was"raised up"from the dead by Yahweh.</p>


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<h4>Therefore don’t you be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh; neither be dismayed, Israel- Isaiah’s restoration prophecies contained not only many clear commands to not fear at the time of the restoration (<a href='B:290 41:10'>Isa 41:10</a>; <a href='B:290 41:13-14'>Isa 41:13-14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:1'>Isa 43:1</a>; <a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>; <a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:290 44:8'>Isa 44:8</a>; <a href='B:290 51:7'>Isa 51:7</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>), but also a clear statement that if they were truly the re-established Kingdom, they would not fear: “Thou afflicted, tossed with tempest [s:w. <a href='B:450 7:14'>Zec 7:14</a> re. how Judah was ‘tossed around’ by the 70 years captivity] I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires::. and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee::. and all thy children shall be taught of the LORD” (<a href='B:290 54:11-14'>Isa 54:11-14</a>). The adversaries to the rebuilding did make the returned exiles afraid: “For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands” (<a href='B:160 6:9'>Neh 6:9</a>):&nbsp; Likewise <a href='B:150 3:3'>Ezr 3:3</a>: “And they set the altar upon his bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries”. Nehemiah exhorted the people not to be afraid perhaps on the basis of Jeremiah’s words (<a href='B:160 4:14'>Neh 4:14</a>). Their fear and problem-oriented view of life stopped the Kingdom bursting forth into their experience. That fear was rooted in an obsessive self-interest that eclipsed a true faith in that which is greater and larger than us as individuals. And so it can be with us.</h4><h4>For, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid- This salvation from far off must be understood in the context of how God says that He was potentially near to Judah, but they had chosen to keep Him"far off"(s:w:) in their hearts; see on <a href='B:300 12:2'>Jer 12:2</a>; <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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<h4>For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you- This alludes to Isaiah’s"Emmanuel"prophecy of the Messiah who would be"God with us". ’Yah’s salvation’ is Yehoshua, Jesus.</h4><p>For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you- Earlier God had threatened to make a full end, the same phrase is found in <a href='B:290 10:23'>Isa 10:23</a> and <a href='B:430 1:18'>Zep 1:18</a>. But now God promises that He will not make a full end (<a href='B:300 5:10'>Jer 5:10</a>; <a href='B:300 5:18'>Jer 5:18</a>; <a href='B:300 4:27'>Jer 4:27</a>; <a href='B:300 30:11'>Jer 30:11</a>; <a href='B:300 46:28'>Jer 46:28</a>). God is not capricious; but His love and pity is such that He is unafraid to not do according to His wrath. In wrath God remembered mercy; or perhaps responded to some degree of repentance or intercession from a minority. And this God is our God. This change by God was in response to Jeremiah’s prayer of <a href='B:300 10:24'>Jer 10:24</a>, where the same words are used; Jeremiah as representative of the people asked not to be corrected to the point of destruction, but to be corrected"in measure". See on :19.</p><h4>But I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished- The frequent appeals for Judah to be"instructed"use the same word translated"punish"(<a href='B:30 26:18'>Lev 26:18</a>). The idea was that the punishments were to be instruction; they were not the lashing out of an offended Deity. It was God’s hope, even ’fantasy’ would not be too strong a word, that His people would realize this, and come to say"You punished / instructed me, and I was instructed"(<a href='B:300 31:18'>Jer 31:18</a> s:w:). That correction / punishment was to be"in measure", the same phrase is used by Jeremiah as Judah’s representative when he asked to be corrected"with justice / judgment"(<a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>). His personal reformation was to be that of Judah; see on :13. The paradox is that Judah deserved total destruction, as Jeremiah and other prophets do state at times; and yet the"just"judgment was that which resulted in reformation and not total destruction. That justice involved them not being left"unpunished"; the guilty cannot be"cleared"(s:w."unpunished"; <a href='B:20 34:7'>Exo 34:7</a>; <a href='B:410 1:3'>Nah 1:3</a>). That is a fundamental part ofGod’s character. The problem was that the Jews of Jeremiah’s time considered themselves"innocent"(<a href='B:300 2:35'>Jer 2:35</a> s:w."unpunished"). They had to be convicted both of their sin and of God’s grace, in punishing / correcting them less than their sins deserved (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>).</h4>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh, Your hurt is incurable, and your wound grievous- But Yahweh healed the incurable (<a href='B:300 30:17'>Jer 30:17</a>). This is the Bible paradox of God’s love of Israel and desire for their redemption. As noted on :11, they deserved total destruction, but God’s wonderful way with Israel was to punish them less than their sins deserved and yet do so with justice.</p>


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<p>There is none to plead your cause, that you may be bound up: you have no healing medicines- The false prophets had failed to heal them by offering them"peace"without repentance (s:w. <a href='B:300 6:14'>Jer 6:14</a>; <a href='B:300 8:11'>Jer 8:11</a>). As noted on :11, Jeremiah was Judah’s representative, and he too had been healed when there was no healing possible apart from the Divine (<a href='B:300 17:14'>Jer 17:14</a> s:w:). Jeremiah in depression seems to have lost faith in the healing promised in <a href='B:300 30:13'>Jer 30:13</a>, for he laments amongst the ruins of Jerusalem that Zion is without a healer (<a href='B:310 2:13'>Lam 2:13</a>).</p>


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<h4>All your lovers have forgotten you; they don’t seek you- The lovers were the surrounding nations whom she had trusted in; they were destroyed by Babylon or sided with Babylon.</h4><h4>For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased- God was the healer of the wound as well as the wounder (:15). Let us not forget His hurt and experience of having been wounded:&nbsp;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>


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<p>Why do you cry for your hurt? Your pain is incurable: for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you- The wounder was God, who was Himself wounded in their hurt, and yet He was also their healer. See on :14. Their wound was incurable by any apart from Him.</p>


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<p>Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, each one of them, shall go into captivity; and those who despoil you shall be a spoil, and all who prey on you will I give for a prey- God’s love for Israel is such that even in their guilt He still avenges them. The structure of the book of Revelation reflects the principles of this verse; the seals speak of the judgments on Israel in the last days, but they are very similar to the later series of judgments, which are upon her latter day desolators."Devour"means to consume to destruction; the paradox is that Israel were devoured but survived by grace, just as they were cured of an incurable wound. The adversaries of Judah didn’t all go into exile at the time of Jeremiah; this is another indication that these prophecies of the restoration are to be reapplied and rescheduled to the last days.</p>


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<h4>For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says Yahweh- To be cured of an incurable wound was to be achieved only by God’s grace. Likewise the broken earthen bottle which was smashed couldn’t be made whole again- apparently (<a href='B:300 19:11'>Jer 19:11</a>). 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 (Jer 322; <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.</h4><h4>Because they have called you an outcast, saying, It is Zion, whom no man seeks after- God is very sensitive to the words said about His people, even when they are suffering for their sins. His patience and hurt with all the countless words of anti-Jewish mockery over the centuries::. is the more amazing. None of Zion’s one time lovers sought her (:14). But God did. And His desperate hope was that they would seek Him, and He would as it were meet them in joy. God is in search of man, of Israel in particular; our ’search for the truth’ or ’for God’ is not made in limbo, beneath the apparent silence of the steely skies. God is in search of man too."And going out to find Him, I met Him coming toward me", in the words of a Yiddish poem. They were indeed outcasts, thrust away ones, because the false prophets had thrust them away from Yahweh (<a href='B:50 13:10'>Deu 13:10</a> s:w:), and God had confirmed this by ’casting them out’ as outcast from Him (s:w. <a href='B:300 8:3'>Jer 8:3</a>; <a href='B:300 29:18'>Jer 29:18</a>). But still God was and is so deeply sensitive to that being negatively commented upon.</h4>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places- Although Judah were encouraged to build houses in Babylon (<a href='B:300 29:5'>Jer 29:5</a>), they were to perceive them as mere"tents"compared to their permanent dwelling place, which was back in the cities of Israel. And this is how we ought to perceive our homes, even if we lived in the house we were born in all our days. They are but tents compared to the ultimate permanence of our place in God’s Kingdom.</h4><h4>And the city shall be built again on its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited in its own former way- <a href='B:300 30:18'>Jer 30:18</a> RSV prophesies: “the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall be where it used to be”. And passages as varied as Zechariah 1, Psalms 68 and Micah 4 all insist that the temple of the restored Kingdom was to built within the city of Jerusalem. This would all point towards the temple commanded in Ezekiel 40-48 being smaller than the huge edifice envisioned by Henry Sulley. See on <a href='B:330 45:1'>Eze 45:1</a>.</h4>


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<p>Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small- See on :11."Few"is literally"brought to nothing". Judah were not literally ’brought to nothing’. This was in response to Jeremiah’s prayer in <a href='B:300 10:24'>Jer 10:24</a> - to correct / punish [s:w:] Judah, but not bring them to nothing. The promise of multiplication obviously alludes to the promises to Abraham; these were to be the basis of the new covenant which Judah were to enter, seeing that they had broken the old covenant.</p>


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<p>Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before Me; and I will punish all who oppress them- The emphasis is upon restoration,"as before". The future kingdom of God will be a reestablishment of the Kingdom of God as it was in the form of Israel. The congregation"established before Me"uses the language of the promises to David in <a href='B:100 7:16'>2Sa 7:16</a>; <a href='B:100 7:26'>2Sa 7:26</a>. The seed of David would be"before Me"for ever; the promises to David could have been fulfilled at Jeremiah’s time, but they were not. And so the restoration will come to its final term in the last days through the Lord Jesus, the great seed of David.</p>


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<h4>Their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from their midst; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to Me- When Judah returned, they could have entered into the new covenant, featuring “nobles [an intensive plural, meaning ‘the great noble’]… and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them” (<a href='B:300 30:21'>Jer 30:21</a>). He would be a Jew, not a Gentile, fulfilling the promises to David (see on :20). Zerubabbel the Governor could have fulfilled this; but he flunked out. Yet God lifted up his spirit a second time (<a href='B:440 1:14'>Hag 1:14</a> cp. (<a href='B:440 1:14'>Hag 1:14</a> cp. <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>); he was given a second chance, such was God’s enthusiasm that he should achieve what was potentially possible for him. But again, he failed. He saw the glory of Babylon as more attractive than the hard work required to bring about Yahweh’s eternal glory in Zion. It is noteworthy how God worked through this man’s failures, and desired to give him (and all Israel) further opportunities:&nbsp; See on <a href='B:300 23:5'>Jer 23:5</a>.</h4><h4>This leader who would come close to God in mediation would be willing to give his life to enable this. This must be connected with how Isaiah 53, describing Messiah’s death, is actually in a restoration context (beginning in Isaiah 52). Could it not be that a Messiah figure could have arisen and died a sacrificial death to bring his people to God? Daniel 9 likewise associates the rebuilding of Zion with the death of “Messiah the prince” to reconcile Israel to God- perhaps potentially possible within a literal 70 week period from Cyrus’ decree?</h4><h4>For who is he who has had boldness to approach to Me? says Yahweh- AV"who is this that engaged his heart to approach::.". The Hebrew is literally ’who has braided / intermixed his heart’. David was a man after God’s own heart, and his greater son was likewise to have a heart braided with that of God. It was the Lord Jesus, the man with the heart of God, who alone is able to fully approach unto God.</h4>


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<p>You shall be My people, and I will be your God- Again this refers to the promises to Abraham; Judah would truly be the promised seed. The new covenant they would accept would be based upon the promises to Abraham.</p>


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<p>Behold, the storm of Yahweh, His wrath, has gone forth, a sweeping storm: it shall burst on the head of the wicked- This threat of terrible judgment is juxtaposed purposefully next to the language of the restoration. The wrath of God is indeed the prelude to the love of God. 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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<h4>The fierce anger of Yahweh will not return, until He has executed, and until He has performed the intentions of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it- 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. But the intents of God’s heart were and are the salvation of His people; see on <a href='B:300 29:11'>Jer 29:11</a>. In this case, the wrath of God works towards this situation, whereby His saving, restoring purpose is made real.</h4><h4>The repentance of Israel must be associated with an opening of their eyes to God’s word. There is no other way men can come to repentance. <a href='B:300 30:24'>Jer 30:24</a> prophecies Jacob’s final homecoming, and then comments:"In the latter days (not now) ye shall consider (understand) it". Then Israel will consider and understand the words of their prophets."The Lord hath poured out upon (Israel) the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes (quoted in <a href='B:520 11:8'>Rom 11:8</a> concerning Israel’s blindness to Christ)::. the vision of all (God’s word) is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed::. (but) in that day&nbsp; shall the (spiritually) deaf hear the words of the book"(<a href='B:290 29:10-11'>Isa 29:10-11</a>; <a href='B:290 29:17-18'>Isa 29:17-18</a>). This will be when the book is unsealed at"the time of the end"(<a href='B:340 12:4'>Dan 12:4</a>). We have shown elsewhere that Israel’s minority repentance must occur prior to the Lord’s return. Therefore there must be an upsurge in Biblical activity amongst those who will become the faithful remnant in latter day Israel. This will be brought about by the Elijah prophet- remembering that the Elijah prophet is framed in Malachi as a teacher of God’s word, not just an imparter of it. Likewise John, in the spirit of Elijah, taught the people about the Lord’s advent.</h4>


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<p>At that time, says Yahweh, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people- The intention was that the ten tribes along with Judah would repent and return together to Zion, entering covenant relationship again under a new covenant based upon the promises to Abraham, whereby all Abraham’s seed were God’s people (<a href='B:10 17:8'>Gen 17:8</a>). It is the common relationship of God’s people to the same one God, the joint experience of repentance and forgiveness, which binds His people together. This potential didn’t happen, and therefore is delayed until the last days and also reapplied in the experience of God’s redeemed people today.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh, The people who were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest- The implication is that many Israelites perished in Egypt by"the sword", and then found grace in the covenant made with them after leaving Egypt, in the Sinai wilderness."The sword"is used to heighten the similarities with those who survived the Babylonian onslaught, and in"the wilderness"of Babylon became the good figs of Jeremiah 24 who would repent and also find grace in a new covenant. That was the intention. Despite living in houses in Babylon on a permanent basis (<a href='B:300 29:28'>Jer 29:28</a>), they were (like us) to perceive that life as temporary, and the sophisticated city of Babylon as a wilderness. As God caused Israel to find"rest"in the promised land through Joshua-Jesus, so the exiles were intended to; and so can we in some sense allow God to cause us to enter into that rest (<a href='B:650 4:3'>Heb 4:3</a>). Despite God causing them to enter the rest, they didn’t (<a href='B:650 3:11'>Heb 3:11</a>). The causative power of God was refused by them, just as His people today can refuse the Holy Spirit’s work.</h4><h4>Yahweh had promised that He would lead His people on that wilderness journey from Babylon to Zion just as He had earlier led His people from Egypt to the same promised land. <a href='B:300 31:2'>Jer 31:2</a> had encouraged them that Israel “found grace in the wilderness” before, and they would do again, “When I go to cause [Israel] to go to their place of rest” (RV). God had promised in <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> that He would bring Israel on their journey from Babylon to Judah along the fertile crescent- He would “cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble”:&nbsp; This is why Isaiah’s prophecies of the restoration from Babylon are shot through with allusion to the exodus and wilderness journey (e:g. <a href='B:290 43:2'>Isa 43:2</a>; <a href='B:290 51:10'>Isa 51:10</a>; <a href='B:290 63:11'>Isa 63:11</a>). <a href='B:300 31:2'>Jer 31:2</a> had prophesied of the returning Jews: “The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest”- just as <a href='B:450 1:11'>Zec 1:11</a> describes the land being “at rest” when they returned to rebuild Zion. My point is that Yahweh didn’t give up with His people because many chose to remain in Babylon, and those who did make the journey didn’t believe His promises of protection very strongly. He zealously worked with whatever they could present Him with.</h4>


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<p>Yahweh appeared of old to me saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you- This had been Jeremiah’s consistent message; that although he had to speak of judgment to come, the essence was God’s love. As God potentially caused them to enter the reset (:2), so He drew them out of Egypt into the desert by grace, and so would He do in returning the exiles from Babylon to the promised land. But most preferred to remain in Babylon, just as the call of the Kingdom is resisted by many today. The Hebrew for"loving kindness"is related to the word for"grace"in :2. Perhaps Jeremiah as Judah’s representative experienced this ’drawing up’ unto salvation when he was"drawn up"out of certain death in the dungeon (<a href='B:300 38:13'>Jer 38:13</a>, s:w."with loving kindness have I drawn you [up]", <a href='B:300 31:3'>Jer 31:3</a>).</p>


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<h4>Again will I build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel- But Judah easily gave up the work of building; they had to be constantly coaxed to get on with it by Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah. They were, however, effectively declining to allow themselves to be built up into God’s Kingdom, because they were too worried about building their own houses than God’s And so insofar as we too decline the spiritual upbuilding which there is available in God’s word, so we decline a part in God’s work of building a house for His Name. God would “build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel”. The “virgin” here refers to the temple which was to be built by God, and yet it also clearly refers to the actual people of Judah who returned. In other words, their attitude to the temple was their attitude to themselves. Because they had such a low value of their own worth before God, they treated His work with a similar low value. And there is a great lesson for us here:&nbsp;</h4><h4>Again you shall be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry- <a href='B:300 31:15'>Jer 31:15</a> (cp. <a href='B:470 2:18'>Mat 2:18</a>)&nbsp; speaks of how Rachel weeps for her slain children, but here she is portrayed as a virgin who takes her tambourine in hand and dances, entering a new covenant with her ba’al, her Lord, her husband, who has obliterated the memory of all her sins in a way that only a Divine being could do. Women in love are stereotypically associated with emotions of giddiness, hysteria, excitement, joy::. and this is the language applied to weeping Rachel, weeping over the children God had taken from her. And yet::. according to the New Testament quotations and expositions of Jeremiah 31, this is the very same ’new covenant’ into which we enter in baptism. This is God’s joy over us, and it should be ours over Him. The"Again::."suggests that as Miriam and the women of Israel celebrated the Red Sea deliverance with tambourines and dancing, so all Israel would rejoice at the deliverance from Babylon. And yet most didn’t want to leave Babylon, and the miserable few who did respond to Cyrus’ decree returned seeking their own material benefit and grumbled at the famine they found in the land. This was because they had not really repented.</h4>


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<p>Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy its fruit- The reference to Samaria reminds us that the ten and two tribes were to be united; see on :1. They did this at the restoration, but became so obsessed with treading out the grapes that they did it even on the Sabbath, and thereby disallowed the fulfillment of the Kingdom&nbsp; prophecies which were dependent upon them keeping the Sabbath (<a href='B:160 13:15'>Neh 13:15</a>; <a href='B:290 58:13'>Isa 58:13</a>).</p>


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<p>For there shall be a day when the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God- The reference to Ephraim reminds us that the ten and two tribes were to be united; see on :1. The ten tribes would worship at Zion in the rebuilt temple, and not in Jeroboam’s high places. But most of them chose to remain in captivity; so much potential was wasted.</p>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish, praise, and say, Yahweh, save Your people, the remnant of Israel- It was God’s intention that the restoration would not only unite Israel and Judah (see on :1), but the surrounding nations would turn to Yahweh and rejoice in His grace to Jacob; they would urge Yahweh onwards in saving His people, and share in that gracious redemption.</p>


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<p>Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together: a great company shall they return here- The language of lame, limping Jacob and his wives and their children together all suggests Jacob returning from exile to his homeland. This could have happened at the restoration."Company"translates a Hebrew word often used in the prophets of the company of nations associated with Egypt or Babylon, who would invade Israel and then be punished (<a href='B:330 32:23'>Eze 32:23</a> etc:). But the promises to Abraham were that a"company"(s:w:) of nations would and could become part of Abraham’s seed (<a href='B:10 28:3'>Gen 28:3</a>; <a href='B:10 35:11'>Gen 35:11</a>; <a href='B:10 48:4'>Gen 48:4</a>). The"great company"who were to participate in the restoration of God’s Kingdom in Israel was intended to include this great company of Gentile nations, who at that time were to be judged but were intended along with the remnant of Judah to repent and come into covenant relationship with Yahweh, to"know Yahweh"as Ezekiel often expresses it. “A great company” didn’t return from Babylon, according to the records in Ezra and Nehemiah. The majority chose to stay in comfortable Babylon.</p>


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<h4>They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them- The weeping would be in repentance and they would be lead back to Zion in response to their petitions. And yet it would also be with the joy of people who know they have been forgiven (:4). But this wasn’t the scene at the restoration; those who returned came as colonists do, seeking land for themselves and a good life. And they found famine in the land and cities in ruins:&nbsp;</h4><p>I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My first born- Both Ezra and Nehemiah wanted to have a Babylonian military escort on the journey back; theyweren’t sure that they would be given “a straight way” with Yahweh’s protection. <a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a> records that “Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed [s:w. “stumble”, <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>], and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall”. They were easily discouraged by the words of the surrounding world, by the apparent hopelessness of their task; and thus they stumbled. <a href='B:150 8:21'>Ezr 8:21</a> LXX describes how Ezra fasted for them to be given a “straight way”, as Jeremiah had foretold they could have. He saw the need for them to make the effort to fulfill the prophecy. Note how Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim featured “straight” progress; the wheels on earth surely connect with how Israel should have been, moving in a straight way back to the land, in harmony with the Angel-cherubim above them likewise moving in a straight way. But they failed to “keep in step with the Spirit”::. They were to walk “each one straight before him” (<a href='B:290 57:2'>Isa 57:2</a> RVmg:), as each of the cherubim went straight ahead (<a href='B:330 1:12'>Eze 1:12</a>). <a href='B:230 107:2'>Psa 107:2</a>; <a href='B:230 107:7'>Psa 107:7</a> RV speak of Israel being gathered out of the nations and being led in a “straight way” to Zion, as they had [potentially] been enabled to do on their departure from Egypt. Yet then they spent 38 years walking a distance coverable in just 11 days- because they did not walk in the “straight way”. The house of Israel were to “measure the pattern” of the temple just as the Angel had done; they were to work in harmony with the Angel, laying out the temple exactly as the Angel had done in the preceding vision (<a href='B:330 43:10'>Eze 43:10</a> cp. <a href='B:330 40:5-13'>Eze 40:5-13</a>). And we too are to follow where our Angel potentially enables us to go.</p><h4>The restoration prophecy of <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> spoke of how the returnees would walk"in a straight way"(s:w:)"by the rivers of waters"- and surely Ezra consciously alluded to this when by the river Ahava he fasted for the exiles to return in a"right / straight way". He knew that these prophecies of restoration would not just automatically come true- they had to be fulfilled by much prayer, fasting and stepping out in faith. But so very few perceived that. And the challenge remains for us today- to walk in the way which God’s Angels have potentially prepared for us, with prayer and boldness. I feel this is especially true in the matter of latter day witnessing.</h4>


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<p>Hear the word of Yahweh, you nations, and declare it in the islands afar off; and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock- This continues God’s fantasy, if you like, His earnest hope and wish, that the return of His people to Him would be blessed by the nations and they too would eagerly turn to Him. The scenario whereby Babylon was to be destroyed was not His ideal intention. 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>


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<h4>For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he- Redemption from he that is stronger is an allusion to the promise that Jacob would overcome his stronger brother, Esau (<a href='B:10 25:23'>Gen 25:23</a>); and Esau as Edom was active in the destruction of Zion. But Jacob would be redeemed and return- if they wished. The suffering of God over the exiles all points forward to His later experience in the death of His Son. But note that God’s suffering was particularly because Israel would not return to Him. Had they done so, the hurt of their past sins would have been erased in a moment. God redeemed and ransomed Jacob, thereby enabling them to return from Babylon- but the majority preferred to ignore the call to return because they were so caught up in the good life. And likewise the hugely costly redemption of the world in the blood of Christ is painful for God insofar as so many, the majority, refuse it. The pain of providing this ransom and the hurt of human sin was one thing; the refusal of the offer of a way back to relationship with Him is far worse. From this we can perceive how thrilled God is when we turn to Him. And further, appreciating it should inspire our preaching, knowing the Father’s joy over just one true convert who will accept His ways in Truth and enter into loving relationship with Him.</h4><h4>Judah effectively refused their ransom and redemption. And so this great salvation was reapplied to salvation in Christ for a new Israel. These terms are together applied to our redemption from death (<a href='B:350 13:14'>Hos 13:14</a>), and both terms are often used in the New Testament of our salvation in Christ.</h4>


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<p>They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all- This was the potential. The wheat, wine and oil were all withheld by Yahweh as a result of their selfishmaterialism, according to Haggai and Malachi. And <a href='B:160 5:3'>Neh 5:3</a> specifically mentions that a “dearth” came even in Nehemiah’s time. The"watered garden"clearly alludes to Eden, which could have been restored at this time in the restored Kingdom, as Ezekiel’s restoration prophecies make clear. This, along with the idea of no more tears of sorrow, is alluded to in <a href='B:730 21:4'>Rev 21:4</a>; but it is all reapplied to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth at the Lord’s return.</p>


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<p>Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow- The"sorrow::. mourning"was that of the exiles and survivors of the Babylonian onslaught, as the book of Lamentations makes apparent. This could all have been dramatically reversed had they repented and allowed the restoration to happen as God intended. But they didn’t repent, even when God attempted to as it were force through the restoration. The young and old didn’t rejoice together- the old men wept at how small the temple was compared even with Solomon’s, whilst the younger ones rejoiced (<a href='B:150 3:12'>Ezr 3:12</a>). Sorrow at realizing their sins is a feature of the Ezra and Nehemiah records- rather than joy in the real experience of God’s redemption. Again, are there similarities with ourselves? The life in Christ, the Kingdom life, is of all joy and peace through believing, of joy and peace in the spirit of holiness. But is this the life and mindset which we live?</p>


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<h4>I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness- But the priests returned to mind their own fields because the tithes weren’t paid to them (<a href='B:160 13:10'>Neh 13:10</a>). One of the dominant features of salvation in God’s Kingdom will be that of satisfaction, being satiated, utterly filled.</h4><h4>And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says Yahweh- When Israel were so far from God, He foretold the day when"my people will be gorged with my grace"(<a href='B:300 31:14'>Jer 31:14</a>). The image of gorging upon grace is yet another reflection of the super-abounding nature of it. And this part of the new covenant to be made with Israel is true of us today, who have already entered that same covenant; it’s a thought we can dwell upon as we eat at the Lord’s table. And as we do so we can think of how God describes His feelings in all this:"I will find joy in them and in doing them good"(<a href='B:300 32:41'>Jer 32:41</a>). God simply loves pouring out such grace. Let’s try to catch something of this spirit of the grace of God. Let’s try to adopt God’s perspective. For what does He require more of a man,"but to do justly, and to love mercy (as God does, <a href='B:400 7:18'>Mic 7:18</a>), and to walk humbly with your God"(<a href='B:400 6:8'>Mic 6:8</a>)?</h4>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children-"Ramah"means literally ’the high place’. There may be an allusion to how"Rachel", Jacob’s idolatrous and faithless wife as representative of the women of Judah, had offered their children to Baal upon those high places. And now she realized that was all in vain. Apart from this approach, it is difficult to see any other specific significance in the mention of Ramah. The bitterness of her grief was because she knew she had sinned and sacrificed her children to that which had not profited; and yet even that grief could be assuaged by Yahweh’s plan for her, if she would accept it. The historical Rachel died in sorrow, refusing comfort, and yet gave birth to Benjamin, ’son of my sorrow’, renamed ’son of my right hand’. She was an appropriate symbol for Judah in their suffering. Out of it all could come mere sorrow, or the birth of a Messianic king and people. It all depended upon whether or not they would accept comfort.</h4><p>She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more- <a href='B:290 40:1-2'>Isa 40:1-2</a> had spoken a message of comfort to the exiles: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God”. But [in full allusion to thisprophecy], the exiles were like Rachel who refused to be comforted over her loss; they claimed they found “none to comfort” (<a href='B:310 1:2'>Lam 1:2</a>; <a href='B:310 1:16-17'>Lam 1:16-17</a>; <a href='B:310 1:21'>Lam 1:21</a>). But they were willfully refusing the comfort of God’s repeated word of hope and restoration. They didn’t grasp the plain teaching of the prophetic word because they didn’t want to- it demanded too much of them, and a giving up of the comfortable Babylon life. Hence <a href='B:290 43:19'>Isa 43:19</a> laments: “I am doing a new thing: now it springs forth [in the decree to return to Zion?], do you not perceive it?”. And do we"not perceive it?"time and again in our own lives, as to the potentials God is opening up?</p><p>The early chapters of Matthew contain at least three examples of&nbsp; quotations whose context just cannot fit the application given: <a href='B:470 2:14-15'>Mat 2:14-15</a> cp. <a href='B:350 11:1'>Hos 11:1</a>; <a href='B:470 2:17-18'>Mat 2:17-18</a> cp. <a href='B:300 31:15'>Jer 31:15</a>; <a href='B:470 1:23'>Mat 1:23</a> cp. <a href='B:290 7:14'>Isa 7:14</a>. Much Christian material about Israel shows how they have returned to the land, rebuilt the ruined cities, made the desert blossom etc:, as fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in Jeremiah etc. The context of these prophecies often doesn’t fit a return to the land by Jews in the 20th century; but on the other hand, the correspondence between these prophecies and recent history is so remarkable that it can’t be just coincidence. So again we are led to conclude that a few words here and there within a prophecy can sometimes have a fulfillment outside that which the context seems to require.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says Yahweh; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy- As explained on :15, it depended whether or not Rachel accepted the comfort of the prophetic word. Her"work", her labour pains in sorrow, could have been rewarded by the rebirth of a son, in the restoration of Judah from the land of the enemy.</h4><h4>God paints Himself as acting with the anger of a very angry husband, whose anger is rooted in the profoundness of His love for His wife. There is a dark side to intimacy. It’s why families, lovers, both spiritual and natural, experience the heights of both love and frustration / anger with each other. With a love like God’s, it’s inevitable that there is a strong element of jealousy and potential hurt over us. It has to be so. And yet as we know the story of the prophets never ends with the angry judgment- amazingly, given this level of anger and judgment / retribution, there is always the passionate appeal for Israel to return, to recover love, romance and intimacy in the relationship. Taking as it were a snapshot of the nature of the judgments God expressed, this is indeed hard to swallow. It’s hard to read <a href='B:300 31:16-34'>Jer 31:16-34</a>, how God will slay Rachel’s children, leave her weeping for them, and then dry her eyes and speak of a new covenant and new relationship with her. But the point of it all is that this indeed is how radical the cycle of sin, judgment and repentance really is in the lives of each of us. If a movie were to be made of all this, none of us would be able to resist it. The story of how through love gone sour, estrangement, rape and battery, a couple triumph in love and true, eternal intimacy. But this is the wonder and power of true repentance. And it is also a powerful window into the consequence and nature of human sin. These metaphors and images of God as the jilted lover convey the reality of sin and reconciliation in a way that no amount of prose ever could. And yet it wasn’t only metaphor- all this was lived out in the feelings of Hosea for Gomer. He could only have had those feelings if he very deeply loved her. The whole story, the images and ideas… surely leave us knowing once and for all that our religion and relationship with God simply can never be merely abstract contemplation of Biblical ideas, devoid of commitment and passion in response to God’s love. All these wonderful ideas come down to us through reading and reflection upon Scripture. But Bible reading, understood and felt as it should be, can from now on for us surely never again be a passive, neutral, private experience. If we truly are in covenant relationship with this wondrous God, it demands our all. Our failures, forgiven as they are, will haunt us for their awfulness; and the wonder of His love will never cease to move us to real tears in the midst of this unemotional, too busy, post modern world. And the experience of God’s ever new love and forgiveness will lead us to rise above all the examples of failed relationships and marriages we are surrounded with, to realize quite simply that those whom we love, we forgive. And the vastness of God’s love means that He genuinely forgives us. And we too will go on risking ourselves, making ourselves vulnerable, to love again, to forgive again, knowing His love for us. But of course all this hinges around our perception of our sins and unfaithfulness being what it is.</h4>


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<p>There is hope for your latter end, says Yahweh; and your children shall come again to their own border- The historical Rachel died in sorrow, refusing to be comforted with the thought that her suffering had brought a son into the world. And so Zion could choose whether or not to accept the prophetic word of comfort, and to understand their sufferings as being but the labour pains which would bring forth the restored, revived Kingdom of God in Israel.</p>


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<p>I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, You have chastised me,and I was chastised, as an untrained calf: turn me, and I shall be turned; for You are Yahweh my God- See on <a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a>. The appeal for Jerusalem to be"instructed"in <a href='B:300 6:8'>Jer 6:8</a> uses this same word translated"chastised", or"punish"(<a href='B:30 26:18'>Lev 26:18</a>). The idea was that the punishments were to be instruction; they were not the lashing out of an offended Deity. It was God’s hope, even ’fantasy’ would not be too strong a word, that His people would realize this, and come to say"You punished / instructed me, and I was instructed"(<a href='B:300 31:18'>Jer 31:18</a> s:w:). His desire was to turn them, to make them repent, and to return them (s:w:) to their land in glory. But they had to themselves desire to be turned. The work of the Spirit for us under the new covenant is the same; even if we lack the steel in our will to repent, we will be made repentant- if we desire the Spirit to move. Psychologically we will be empowered, or turned / made repentant, if we have that desire to be repentant. That desire is not the same as the repentance. It’s not as if God is saying that if we repent, then He is there for us. The offer is more than that. It is that if we desire to repent, He will psychologically turn us. Repentance itself is therefore a gift (<a href='B:510 3:26'>Act 3:26</a>; <a href='B:510 11:18'>Act 11:18</a>). The next verse is explicit to this effect; it is after the Divine turning that they repent.</p>


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<h4>Surely after that I was turned, I repented- See on :18. LXX"After my captivity I repented".</h4><p>And after that I was instructed, I struck on my thigh- Jeremiah speaks in the first person perhaps because he had a personal need for repentance and forgiveness, which typified that of Judah. The sins in view may have been things committed in"my youth", just as Israel’s earlier sins were now finding them out. Now,"I groaned for the day of shame"in his youth (LXX).</p><h4>I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth- Our shame should be before God for our sins against Him, and not before men. Hence the prophets often criticize Israel for not being ashamed of their sins before God (<a href='B:300 6:15'>Jer 6:15</a>). Our shame before men leads to anger; our shame before God is resolved in repentance and belief in His gracious forgiveness. Thus Jeremiah recalls how his repentance involved being ashamed, and yet then being"instructed"(<a href='B:300 31:19'>Jer 31:19</a>). It’s through knowing this kind of shame before God that we come to a position where we are unashamed.</h4>


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<p>Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says Yahweh- Here the two tribes are reminded that even after the deportation of the ten tribes ("Ephraim"), God still considered them His"darling child". Judah were so wrong to consider themselves so far superior to Israel, considering that God had no relationship with Ephraim because they lacked the Jerusalem temple. God’s strong intention was to regather the ten tribes when Judah were regathered. But despite the yearning of God to do this, it didn’t happen; because as noted on :18, they didn’t even want to repent. The unrequited yearning of God for human repentance is a tragedy, and He must be so thrilled when we at least desire to respond. And Jeremiah experienced this same yearning of the heart for his people (s:w. <a href='B:300 4:19'>Jer 4:19</a>). That yearning should be ours as we beg men and women to respond; our evangelism should be done out of a heart that bleeds for people.</p>


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<h4>Set up road signs, make guideposts- We may well enquire how travellers were supposed to do this. Maybe the idea is that the first ones to repent were to return and as it were pioneer the way for others to follow. It could be that the idea was that the return of God’s people from captivity was to set up the way for the peoples of their captivity to follow them in coming to Zion and accepting Israel’s God. Or perhaps the contradiction is purposeful; the question would naturally occur as to how they were supposed to do this. And the answer is that God would empower them and show them the way back to Him (see on :18).</h4><h4>Set your heart towards the highway, even the way by which you went: turn again, virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities- This could be specifically addressed to the ten tribes,"Ephraim"(:20), urging them to leave the lands of their captivity. If they had the mental desire, the heart, the set heart, the mindset, the desire to repent / turn again, then they would be turned again; both spiritually, back to God, and literally, back to the land (:18). This is the vision of <a href='B:230 84:5'>Psa 84:5</a> ESV:"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion". But it also had reference to the call for exiled Judah to return. The command to flee the land of the north [Babylon] is to be found in <a href='B:290 48:20'>Isa 48:20</a>; <a href='B:300 51:6'>Jer 51:6</a>; <a href='B:450 2:6'>Zec 2:6</a>; and they were to “get thee up to the high mountain” (<a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a>), using the same word about Judah ‘going up’ from Babylon to Israel. But the majority ofJudah remained in Babylon. And the majority of those who did return, only did so in order for purely personal benefit- of having their own house and land. They ‘went up’ to the land, but not to Zion. With reference to <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a>, <a href='B:440 1:7-9'>Hag 1:7-9</a> exhorted them: “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. Ye looked for much [i:e. they expected the promised Kingdom blessings], and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house”. Their focus was on their own lands and farms rather than the glory of Zion (as <a href='B:160 13:10-11'>Neh 13:10-11</a>). They stood related to the things of God’s kingdom, but never ventured beyond their own personal self-interest. They would not accept that God manifestation rather than human salvation and pleasure was the essential purpose of their God.</h4>


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<h4>How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter?- The exile is described as a being tossed to and fro, continual movement within the empires who had taken them captive. But"how long"they were in exile was an open question; they could have been restored sooner had they wished it, and finally the 70 years of exile until full restoration of the Kingdom were reinterpreted in Daniel 9 to be 70 weeks of days, i:e. a far longer period. See on <a href='B:300 25:12'>Jer 25:12</a>; <a href='B:300 29:10'>Jer 29:10</a>.</h4><p>For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall follow after a man- This suggests that the woman, Judah, were to take the initiative with God by mapping out the roads they would take back to Zion- the suggestion could be that the 70 year period of captivity could have been shortened had Judah taken the initiative. This refers to the way in which Ruth and Naomi, herself a returned exile, summed up the courage to ‘go after’ Boaz, to present herself to him for marriage- reflecting the spiritual ambition of all those who seek redemption and restoration in Christ:&nbsp;If they had the&nbsp; desire to repent, then they would be given repentance [as well as forgiveness]; see on :18. But they had to take the initiative, in seeking it. And yet even that initiative was"created"by God.</p><h4>&nbsp;A very slight change in the vocalization of the Hebrew text here gives the reading"a woman shall be turned into a man". And God would create this; He would give the stereotypically weak woman the courage and strength of a man. Or"turned"could be"returned"; God would create the desire for the woman to return to the man who had divorced her and against whom she had committed multiple adulteries. Whatever the reading, the impression is that God would create desire and provide psychological strengthening in a new and superhuman way. This is the law being written in the heart, the work of the Spirit promised in the new covenant which God was offering His people at this time.</h4>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall bring again their captivity: Yahweh bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness- <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"mountain of holiness"is consistently used for Zion, with the intention that at the restoration from exile, Zion would become the"holy mountain"which features in the Kingdom prophecies of <a href='B:290 11:9'>Isa 11:9</a>; <a href='B:290 56:7'>Isa 56:7</a>; <a href='B:290 65:25'>Isa 65:25</a>; <a href='B:360 3:17'>Joe 3:17</a>; <a href='B:380 1:17'>Oba 1:17</a>, to which the restored exiles would return (<a href='B:290 66:20'>Isa 66:20</a>; <a href='B:330 20:40'>Eze 20:40</a>; <a href='B:450 8:3'>Zec 8:3</a>). The phrase is also used of heaven itself (<a href='B:230 3:4'>Psa 3:4</a> etc:). The idea was that the Kingdom of Heaven would be established on earth, centered in Zion. This could’ve happened at the restoration, but it didn’t; the returned exiles were to build the ’holy mountain’ in the new temple system they were commanded to build in <a href='B:330 43:12'>Eze 43:12</a>. But they didn’t fulfill that prophecy. And so Revelation 21, 22 use the idea and apply it to the restored Kingdom of God on earth at the time of theLord’s return.</p>


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<p>Judah and all its cities shall dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks- The idea of farmers and shepherds living within the area of the restored Zion is found in <a href='B:330 48:18'>Eze 48:18</a> (see notes there). But the commands of Ezekiel 40-48 weren’t obeyed by the returned exiles.</p>


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<p>For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul have I replenished- This is the sorrow of :12 (s:w:) being removed for the returned exiles- but they chose not to accept this possible scenario. God would work within them psychologically through His Spirit, all part of the promise of the new covenant which we are under too. As He had"filled"them with sorrow and panic at the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 13:13'>Jer 13:13</a>, s:w."replenished"), so He would fill them with joy and take away their sorrow.</p>


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<p>On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me- The preceding revelation had been given in a dream which Jeremiah, perhaps through Baruch, wrote down. He found this Kingdom vision"sweet", and yet he seems to forget it when he gets bogged down in the"sorrow"(cp. :25) of his book of Lamentations, failing to see the silver lining.</p>


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<p>Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of animal- To sow seed within a family or house means to add new members to it. Israel and Judah were to be reunited at the restoration, and a totally new creation of people and even animals was to come. This will find its fulfillment when the Lord returns to reestablish the Kingdom, seeing that the exiles’ lack of repentance precluded it from happening in their time. The Hebrew words for"sow::. seed"occur together in the record of the Genesis creation, translated ’yielding / bearing seed’ (<a href='B:10 1:11-12'>Gen 1:11-12</a>; <a href='B:10 1:29'>Gen 1:29</a> etc:). The idea is of a new creation, and is used of the situation in the restored Kingdom of God in <a href='B:290 30:23'>Isa 30:23</a>; <a href='B:290 55:10'>Isa 55:10</a>; <a href='B:330 36:9-11'>Eze 36:9-11</a>.</p>


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<h4>It shall happen that like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant, says Yahweh- 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>).</h4><h4>Israel were told to"throw down","break in pieces"and"utterly destroy"the idols and altars of Canaan. There were times during their history when they obeyed this command by purging themselves from their apostasy in this. The Hebrew words used scarcely occur elsewhere, except very frequently in the context of how God"broke down","threw down"and"destroyed"Israel at the hands of their Babylonian and Assyrian invaders as a result of their not ’breaking down’ (etc:) the idols."Throw down"in <a href='B:20 34:13'>Exo 34:13</a>; <a href='B:50 7:5'>Deu 7:5</a>; <a href='B:50 12:3'>Deu 12:3</a>; <a href='B:140 31:1'>2Ch 31:1</a> is the same word in <a href='B:140 36:19'>2Ch 36:19</a>; <a href='B:300 4:26'>Jer 4:26</a>; <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 33:4'>Jer 33:4</a>; <a href='B:300 39:8'>Jer 39:8</a>; <a href='B:300 52:14'>Jer 52:14</a>; <a href='B:330 16:39'>Eze 16:39</a>; <a href='B:410 1:6'>Nah 1:6</a>."Cut down"in <a href='B:50 7:5'>Deu 7:5</a>; <a href='B:50 12:3'>Deu 12:3</a>; <a href='B:140 31:1'>2Ch 31:1</a> later occurs in <a href='B:290 10:33'>Isa 10:33</a>; Jeremiah 48; Jeremiah 25; <a href='B:310 2:3'>Lam 2:3</a>. So Israel faced the choice: either cut down your idols, or you will be cut down in the day ofGod’s judgment. Those who worshipped idols were like unto them. The stone will either fall on us and destroy us, or we must fall on it and become broken men and women (<a href='B:470 21:44'>Mat 21:44</a>). For the man untouched by the concept of living for God’s glory, it’s a hard choice.</h4>


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<p>In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge- Part of their repentance would involve taking personal responsibility for sins, rather than blaming their situation on others, complaining that they were suffering from the effects of the sins of their fathers. To this day, this has to be part of repentance; a taking of the blame for our sins, rather than blaming anyone else or our gene pool. Ezekiel was up against this problem in his appeal to the exiles to repent. He labours the point in Ezekiel 18 that fathers cannot be held responsible for the spiritual failure of their children in all cases. <a href='B:330 18:2'>Eze 18:2</a> uses the same figure of eating sour grapes. This principle leads us to reflection upon the case of elders whose adult children fall into sin. It should be noted that the bishop’s qualification is that he knows how to rule his own house (<a href='B:610 3:5'>1Ti 3:5</a>). It may be that as with Samuel and other elders, their children or converts do not ‘turn out’ well. If this is because there was a lack of spiritual leadership, this disqualifies a brother. But if he knew how to rule, but they rebelled, then he is not thereby disqualified.</p>


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<p>But each one shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge- See on :29. Their repentance would involve recognizing that they personally had committed the sins which they previously had blamed their fathers for. The exiles likely blamed their situation upon Manasseh’s sins, without recognizing that they were repeating his sins themselves:&nbsp;And yet it seems that in <a href='B:300 32:18'>Jer 32:18</a>, Jeremiah himself has something of Israel’s wrong attitude, even though he theoretically knew that the children were suffering for committing the same sins as the fathers. We can know such truths in theory and yet struggle to accept them in practice.</p>


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<h4>Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah- Israel and Judah were to be united on the basis of their repentance, experience of forgiveness and joint part in this new covenant. It was refused by them at the time, but is now offered to all in Christ. And this unity between those within it should be likewise experienced:&nbsp; The cup of the new covenant which features in the breaking of bread service is the visible symbol in our age of the commemoration of this covenant; and yet sadly it has become the tool for division within the body of those within the new covenant. This really is so tragic.</h4><h4>The new covenant could have then been established, requiring the abrogation of the Old Covenant [the law of Moses] on the basis of an acceptable sacrifice:&nbsp; Somehow, this would have been possible. But it was deferred until the time of the Lord Jesus. That covenant required Judah to have God’s law written on their hearts, so that they each had the knowledge of God (<a href='B:300 31:34'>Jer 31:34</a>); and yet <a href='B:460 2:5-7'>Mal 2:5-7</a> laments that the priests were more interested in divorcing their wives than teaching God’s law to the people; their lips didn’t keep nor teach the knowledge of God</h4>


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<h4>not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt- That old covenant had been broken. It was not so much that the Lord Jesus removed it in His death; it had already been broken. For they had departed from their God and married the gods of the Gentiles; hence the reference to&nbsp; their breaking the covenant although God was their husband. The old covenant was the marriage contract between them and God. And yet He continued faithful to them at that time; hence AVmg."Which My covenant they break; and should I (therefore) have continued an husband unto them?".</h4><h4>Which My covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh- Israel rejected God’s covenant, and therefore He rejected them in that He broke the unbreakable-by-Him covenant (<a href='B:120 17:15'>2Ki 17:15</a>; <a href='B:120 17:20'>2Ki 17:20</a>; <a href='B:450 11:10'>Zec 11:10</a>). In reality, they had rejected themselves, and broke the covenant (<a href='B:300 31:32'>Jer 31:32</a>). It could not and would not be broken by Him- it was only they who could break it. And so with us.</h4>


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<h4>But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people- See on <a href='B:90 10:9'>1Sa 10:9</a>. There is a repeated theme that Israel’s entry into the New Covenant will be associated with God doing something to their hearts, confirming their own change of mind. In other words, the covenant is largely a matter of the mind. This new state of mind is in fact fundamentally part of being in covenant relationship with God. This leads us to the paramount need for us to develop genuine spiritual mindedness, the thinking, the breathing of God’s Spirit in our minds. So God will act upon Israel’s heart directly, using the medium of His word to do so. The initiative is God’s; He&nbsp; will write His word upon their hearts. He is not passively offering people the opportunity to do it to themselves; He will do it to Israel. The same heart-swop operation is described in <a href='B:330 36:25-26'>Eze 36:25-26</a>. <a href='B:300 31:33'>Jer 31:33</a> said that God would place His laws in Israel’s heart; in Ezekiel 36 we read that He will place His Spirit in their hearts. It is the Spirit which makes us obedient to the word. Those within the new covenant today receive this same gift of the Spirit; not today in terms of miraculous gifts, but the operation of God on the human heart which brings about the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant to be"their God"(Gen_17:-8-10). In this sense the new covenant is based upon the promises to Abraham, and in essence preceded the old covenant given on Sinai. Entrance to the new covenant is by baptism, and therefore the gift of the Spirit is given at baptism, as is made clear in the Acts record.</h4><p>Hebrews 8 proves that we are under the new covenant by quoting from Jeremiah 31, which is a prophecy of how in the future, Israel will repent, and will enter into the new covenant. Twice the Spirit uses <a href='B:300 31:31'>Jer 31:31</a> to prove to us that we are under the new covenant now (see <a href='B:650 8:6-13'>Heb 8:6-13</a>; <a href='B:650 10:16-19'>Heb 10:16-19</a>); yet Jeremiah 31 is a prophecy of how natural Israel in the future will enter into that covenant, after their humiliation at the hands of their future invaders. So we are being taught that our entering of the covenant now is similar to how natural Israel will enter that covenant in the future. The point is really clinched by the way the Spirit cites Jeremiah 31 as relevant to us today. The reasoning goes that because <a href='B:300 31:34'>Jer 31:34</a> speaks of sin forgiven for those who accept the new covenant, therefore we don’t need sacrifices or human priesthood now, because <a href='B:300 31:34'>Jer 31:34</a> applies to us. So therefore God writing in our hearts is going on now, too. This is confirmed by Paul’s allusion to Jeremiah 31 in <a href='B:540 3:3'>2Co 3:3</a>. God wrote with His Spirit on our hearts, He made a new covenant on the covenant-tables of our heart. Likewise <a href='B:540 1:22'>2Co 1:22</a>:"Who hath also sealed us, and given us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts". There are several prophecies which speak of Israel entering that new covenant, and what it will mean to them. All of them, in some sense, apply to us who are now in the new covenant. All of us should be earnestly seeking to appreciate the more finely&nbsp; exactly what our covenant with God means, exactly what covenant relationship with God really entails.</p>


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<h4>And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know Me, from their least to their greatest, says Yahweh-&nbsp; Prophet, priest and people were all to be sharing God’s word; all society was to be involved (Jer 23:34). But 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, although such a teaching ministry will ultimately not be needed because all shall know / have relationship experience of Yahweh through their experience of forgiveness. And those under the new covenant begin this now.</h4><h4>For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more- The knowledge of God will no longer have to be taught in theoretical terms because the experience of forgiveness is to know God. Being under the new covenant means that we will know Yahweh, on account of our sins being forgiven. We will be certain of their forgiveness, not just hoping for the best. So often the prophets use the idea of"knowing God"as an idiom for living a life totally dominated by that knowledge. The new covenant which we have entered is all about ’knowing’ God. The knowledge of God elicits repentance, real repentance; and reveals an equally real forgiveness. It is possible for those in Christ to in practice not know God at all. Thus Paul exhorted the Corinthian church:"Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God"(<a href='B:530 15:34'>1Co 15:34</a>). The knowledge and practice of the presence of God ought to keep us back from sin.</h4>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; Yahweh of Armies is His name- Just as God stirs up the sea, so as noted on :33, He can stir up the human heart. The same immense power manifest in the natural creation is available in the spiritual creation of new hearts and people.</p>


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<p>If these ordinances depart from before Me, says Yahweh, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever- Israel did cease from being a nation, but only temporarily. The promise here is that God would not permanently"forever"reject them. Or we could understand this promise as meaning that"the seed of Israel"were a nation"forever"only because God changed the definition of them from natural to spiritual, as <a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a> and many New Testament passages makes clear. Or it could be that there was always a"seed of Israel"before God in that there was always a faithful, believing minority. There is reason to think that there has always been a “remnant” of Jews who believe in the true Messiah- Paul’s reasoning in Romans certainly implies this. If some Jews have always ‘held the truth’- then did we not ought to be seeking them out? For there aren’t so many within our community. Only if Heaven above can be measured “then will I cast off all the seed of Israel” (<a href='B:300 31:37'>Jer 31:37</a> RV). Clearly not all Israel have been cast off- only if the Heavens pass away will all the seed of Israel cease from being “before me”, i:e. in some sort of covenant with God (<a href='B:300 31:36'>Jer 31:36</a>). Paul surely alludes here when saying that God has not [totally] cast off His people because there is always “the remnant”. There will always be a remnant of Israel open to true conversion in every generation.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Yahweh- But “My God will cast them away” (<a href='B:350 9:17'>Hos 9:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:6'>Isa 54:6</a>); the same Hebrew word occurs when God says He would “reject” Israel (<a href='B:350 4:6'>Hos 4:6</a>). God spoke in His wrath, He has passion, but likewise His grace is such that He can relent from what He has spoken in His wrath. This is the paradox of His love and grace. For other explanations of the paradox, see on :36.</h4><h4>Only part of Israel are blind to Messiah; a majority, but not all of them (<a href='B:520 11:5'>Rom 11:5</a>; <a href='B:520 11:7'>Rom 11:7</a>; <a href='B:520 11:25'>Rom 11:25</a>). I don’t think that Paul is merely speaking of the situation in the first century, where clearly some Jews did believe. I say this because <a href='B:300 31:37'>Jer 31:37</a> clearly states that Israel will never be “cast off”; yet, according to Romans 11, Israel are only not cast off because some of them do believe in Christ. The fact Israel are not now totally “cast off” therefore indicates that there always will be a remnant of faithful Jews- faithful to God’s Son and trusting in grace rather than law (<a href='B:520 11:6'>Rom 11:6</a>). Therefore we should be hopeful that at least a remnant will respond to our preaching to them.</h4>


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<p>Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that the city shall be built to Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner- Like the commands of Ezekiel 40-48 this is command more that prediction. This is the same basic dimension as in Ezekiel 40-48, but as noted extensively there, the exiles didn’t obey it, building a far smaller temple and not following the ordinances commanded there; and thereby precluded the reestablishment of the Kingdom at that time. Nehemiah attempted to ’make holy to Yahweh’ (:40) this area (<a href='B:160 3:1'>Neh 3:1</a>; <a href='B:160 12:39'>Neh 12:39</a>) but this was not how things continued.</p>


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<p>The measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah- See on :38. LXX"compassed with a circular wall of choice stones". This was not then fulfilled, but the wall of costly stones is spoken of in <a href='B:730 21:19'>Rev 21:19</a>, and <a href='B:450 14:10'>Zec 14:10</a> has the same ideas in view. The prophecies which the exiles didn’t allow to be fulfilled were reapplied and rescheduled to the establishment of the Kingdom on earth at the Lord’s return.</p>


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<p>The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate towards the east, shall be holy to Yahweh; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever- See on :38. This included the valley of Hinnom, where the children were sacrificed to Baal. Finally there would be permanent cleansing, and Jerusalem would never again be thrown down. This will only finally come true in the latter day fulfillment, as Nehemiah’s attempt to fulfill it (<a href='B:160 3:28'>Neh 3:28</a>) was not followed up by the exiles.</p>


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<p>The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar- The siege began in the ninth year (<a href='B:300 39:1'>Jer 39:1</a>). But the Babylonians temporarily left Jerusalem to deal with the Egyptians (<a href='B:300 37:5'>Jer 37:5</a>), and Jeremiah tried to leave Jerusalem. But he was arrested, falsely accused and imprisoned, as Jeremiah 37 explains. The book of Jeremiah isn’t chronological; Jeremiah 32 speaks of his time in prison</p>


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<p>Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem; and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house- Although the Babylonians had generally left Jerusalem to fight the Egyptians (<a href='B:300 37:5'>Jer 37:5</a>), they clearly left some of their army outside Jerusalem."The court of the guard"doesn’t mean that"the guard"were there; but rather that it was a section of the Palace court where prisoners were guarded.</p>


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<p>For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up saying, Why do you prophesy and say, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it- The message of Jeremiah was countercultural, and exactly the opposite of what people wanted to hear; and therefore in direct collision with the message of the false prophets. We are in a similar position with the message we speak in the last days.</p>


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<h4>And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes- Zedekiah’s response to a message he didn’t want to accept was to shoot the messenger and discredit him. That is the same basic human response to the incisive personal challenge of God’s word. That is why there is so much attempt to discredit the Bible. No matter how politely worded and with what apparent sophistication and eloquence, this is the same basic mindset as Zedekiah’s desire to discredit Jeremiah.</h4><h4><a href='B:300 34:5'>Jer 34:5</a> says that"You shall die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they make a burning for you; and they shall lament you saying, Ah Lord!". It surely has to be recognized that the ‘prophecy’ that Zedekiah would die in peace was conditional upon his obedience to the word of Jeremiah- even though those conditions aren’t recorded (although they are implicit surely).</h4>


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<p>And he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and he shall be there until I visit him, says Yahweh: though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper?- This ’visiting’ was related to Zedekiah’s repentance. He had earlier been told he would be killed, but in fact he died in peace and with respect (<a href='B:300 34:5'>Jer 34:5</a>). This was presumably due to his repentance. God’s ’visiting’ him, His involvement in his life, was in response to that repentance; but it could also have been in giving him repentance. See on <a href='B:300 31:18'>Jer 31:18</a>.</p>


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<p>Jeremiah said, The word of Yahweh came to me saying- The response to Zedekiah’s opposition was not in further condemnation of him, but rather in repeated reassurance that for those open to it, the prophetic word of the restored kingdom was going to come about- now matter how unlikely that might immediately seem.</p>


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<p>Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is yours to buy it- Jeremiah was a priest, so Hanamel also was likely a priest. But they were forbidden to own property. This strange command was therefore to demonstrate the degree to which truly the old covenant had been ended because Israel had broken the contract, and those who wished could accept the new one (<a href='B:300 31:31-32'>Jer 31:31-32</a>). This would explain why in :8 Jeremiah appears to have been given some special reassurance that"then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh".</p>


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<h4>So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Yahweh, and said to me, Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself- As explained on :7, this was illegal for Jeremiah under the old covenant. But that covenant had been broken and therefore ended. This is why Jeremiah now receives special confirmation that truly, this request to buy property was"the word of Yahweh". For God speaks to us through situations.</h4><h4>Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh- Peter knew that if it really was the Lord Jesus out there on the water, then He would bid him walk on the water to Him. Peter knew his Lord, and the sort of things He would ask men to do- the very hardest things for them in their situation. He knew how Jesus could be a demanding Lord. Jeremiah “knew that this was the word of the Lord” when he was asked to do something so humanly senseless- to buy property when he was in prison, when the land was clearly about to be overrun by theBabylonians.</h4>


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<p>I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver- This cheap price reflects the collapse of value in property due to the war. We wonder from where the imprisoned Jeremiah had this money. He presumably had access to some level of wealth, and had the silver brought to him in the prison. We can imagine how many people would have remarked upon his apparent foolishness. News of the transaction would have spread widely, and would have been a powerful testament to his faith in the fulfillment of his prophecies.</p>


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<p>I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances- As noted on :9, this was a major testimony to faith in the prophetic word of restoration. This explains the emphasis in the record on witnesses and the public, legally attested nature of the transaction.</p>


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<p>So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open- “Contracts stamped upon clay tablets have been found in Babylonia, enclosed in an envelope of clay, on the outside of which an exact duplicate of the contract was impressed: if in course of time any disagreement arose, and it was suspected that the outside text had been tampered with, the envelope was broken in the presence of witnesses to see if the inside text agreed with it or not. Earthen jars containing such duplicate contracts have been excavated at Nippur". But see on :14.</p>


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<p>And I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who subscribed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard- Adam Clarke offers a slight variation upon the suggestion made on :11: "A duplicate of the deed was drawn, which was not to be sealed, but to lie open for the inspection of those concerned in some public place where it might be safe and always to be seen. The original, which was sealed up, was put in an earthen pitcher in order to be preserved from accidents. This was delivered by the purchaser into the hands of a third party, to be preserved for the use of the purchaser, and witnesses were called to attest this delivery. They subscribed the book of the purchase, perhaps a town book, or register, where such purchases were entered. Baruch was a scribe by profession; and the deeds were delivered into his hands, before witnesses, to be preserved as above. Perhaps the law, in this case, required that the instrument should be thus lodged. But, in the present case, both the deeds, the original and the duplicate, were put into the earthen pitcher because the city was about to be burnt; and if lodged as usual, they would be destroyed in the general conflagration". In this case, we see again Jeremiah’s faith in the fall of Jerusalem which he had prophesied.</p>


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<p>I commanded Baruch before them, saying- As explained on :12, this departure from usual custom was because Jeremiah believed Jerusalem was about to be burnt and all such records would be lost. The people apparently agreed to this, because it was tacitly obvious that Jeremiah’s words about Jerusalem were going to be fulfilled.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel; that they may continue many days- See on :11,12. However, the Hebrew translated "open" is the word for "exile", literally ’to be denuded’, and thence ’to go into captivity’. If the need was simply to express the fact that a copy of the contract was visible to all, a different word would have been more appropriate. But this word is the one used for ’carrying away into captivity’ (<a href='B:300 29:7'>Jer 29:7</a>; <a href='B:300 29:14'>Jer 29:14</a> and very often). So the idea may be that a copy of the deed was to be taken into captivity, and the sealed copy left in Jerusalem. This witness to faith in restoration was to be with the captives.</p>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land- The idea was that this would be the situation in the restored Kingdom of God in Israel which Jeremiah was prophesying. But here we read of buying for money, deeds, witnesses etc. The kingdom which was then possible was still somewhat human; the ultimate restoration of the Kingdom will not feature these things, and so we have to again conclude that the message of a restored kingdom was reapplied, reinterpreted and rescheduled to the last days. And not every detail of the original prophecies will therefore literally come about.</p>


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<p>Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying- What follows, climaxing in :24 and :25, is again Jeremiah’s struggle with God. He had been obedient, apparently for the sake of being obedient to a Divine command, but he struggled with how ever this could come true. Despite all the prophecies of the restoration which had already come through his mouth. This tension between theoretical knowledge and personal, enthusiastic belief in the truths contained therein remains the struggle within every believer of all ages.</p>


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<p>Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for You- As noted on :16, Jeremiah here struggles between what he knows theoretically, and accepting that spending his money on something which seemed ludicrous and fruitless was actually God’s will. God will quote back his words to him in :27, asking him to believe in practice what he knew theoretically to be true. And we are invited to do so&nbsp; likewise through the experiences brought into our lives. Perhaps with later reflection (see on :25), Jeremiah realized that he had inadvertently quoted the words of God in reminding a likewise doubting Abraham and Sarah: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"(<a href='B:10 18:14'>Gen 18:14</a>). And the Hebrew word translated "hard" is that usually translated "wonder". In our moments of wonder, and as the afterglow of them permeates our lives, it becomes easier to believe that nothing is too wonderful for our God of wonders to do for us. For He is the God who does wonders, He is wonderful and awesome. Jeremiah theoretically learnt the lesson from God’s words to Abraham and Sarah; for he alludes to it here. But God has to remind him soon afterwards in <a href='B:300 32:26-27'>Jer 32:26-27</a>: "Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard [wonderful] for me?". We think we know all about wonder, when actually we don’t. Our lack of total faith shows that we do indeed think God’s wonder is limited. Because something is hard / marvellous in our eyes doesn’t mean it is in God’s eyes (<a href='B:450 8:6'>Zec 8:6</a>).</p>


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<p>Who show loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the great, the mighty God, Yahweh of Armies is His name- His mention of the sins of the fathers affecting their children seems dangerously close to the very complaint of Israel which he had rebuked in <a href='B:300 31:30'>Jer 31:30</a>. Jeremiah here himself has something of Israel’s wrong attitude, even though he theoretically knew that the children were suffering for committing the same sins as the fathers. We can know such truths in theory and yet struggle to accept them in practice.</p>


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<p>Great in counsel, and mighty in working; whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give each one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings- Jeremiah had no problem in believing that God judges sin; but he finds it harder to believe in grace, and in the promised restoration. For he seems to think that God’s judgment of sin surely precluded a restoration in which he would actually own the property he had just bought. We likewise struggle to believe the good news that seems too good to believe, preferring to wallow in the things of sin and its judgment.</p>


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<p>Who performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other men; and made Yourself a name, as it is at this day- This is powerful proof that the concept of the Name of God is far more than simply a word, a lexical item, "Yahweh". It is primitive to then argue about the pronunciation of that word as if that is what the Name is all about. The Name was "made" progressively over time and the experience of God in the lives of me. It is however more than simply a reputation acquired in history. Verses 18 and 19 have listed some of the characteristics of the Name as it was declared to Moses in Exodus 34. It is the articulation of that Name in history, in the very human history of individual lives and hearts as well as in the path of nations, which progressively builds up the glory of that Name; and it came to its acme in the death of His Son on the cross.</p>


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<p>And brought forth Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, wonders, a strong hand, an outstretched arm and with great terror- The exodus from Egypt was presented in Isaiah and by allusion in Jeremiah as the template for Judah’s restoration from Babylon. But with the Babylonians outside the city gates, it all seemed too hard to believe for Jeremiah; that he too would be exiled but restored. This is the limitation of any total or misplaced focus upon true theology, correct doctrine. It may all be true; but grasping correct theology is not the same as personal faith- that this is and shall be true for me.</p>


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<p>And gave them this land, which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey- Jeremiah knew the theoretical truth, that God could give His people the land as He had done historically, by amazing miracles. But he was being asked to believe that he personally would have an inheritance, a real tangible plot of land, in the restored Kingdom. For he tacitly realizes that God could again give Israel their land. But he falters when it comes to personally believing that he will be there, and that it will be personally real to him. So it can be for us. We may be able to fluently and confidently proclaim that the Kingdom of God shall be established on this earth, furnishing clear Bible proofs for it. But do we believe that we personally shall be there? This was the struggle of Jeremiah at this point, and surely it is not unknown to us.</p>


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<p>And they came in, and possessed it, but they didn’t obey Your voice, neither walked in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do: therefore You have caused all this evil to come on them- It seems that Jeremiah considered the sins of Israel so great that the promised restoration wouldn’t happen, and therefore buying a property in the hope of such restoration was foolishness. Israel were obedient to parts of the Mosaic legislation, and yet here Jeremiah claims that "they have done nothing of all that You commanded them". He correctly understood that obeying bits and pieces of a religious code, subscribing to some kind of spiritual culture in some parts of human life, is in fact ’nothing’. This will not save anyone; and that again is a challenge to us all. For over time, our faith does have elements of religion and culture within it. To break one part of the Mosaic law was to break all of it (<a href='B:660 2:10'>Jas 2:10</a>). And so in fact nobody apart from the Lord Jesus did anything of that which was commanded. The only way to salvation therefore was from a new covenant- the very offer God had just made in <a href='B:300 31:32-33'>Jer 31:32-33</a>.</p>


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<p>Behold, the siege mounds, they have come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence; and what You have spoken has happened; and behold, You see it- "Behold" is asking God to ’see’ the current realities as if He didn’t see them; but the sentence concludes with accepting that "You see it". The theme of this section is that Jeremiah through his struggles with God, and having the courage to articulate them in words, comes to the right conclusions. God’s response to him is merely confirming what Jeremiah had already come to perceive. This happens in our lives too.</p>


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<p>You have said to me, Lord Yahweh, Buy the field for money, and call witnesses; whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans- Jeremiah stops short of charging God with folly, as we should. But he openly expresses his struggle with being asked to spend his money, perhaps all his savings and wealth, on what seemed to be pointless. Perhaps he stops short here, in mid sentence almost, because the answer was already clear to him- if indeed God could do all things, then He could restore Judah so that this purchase would be worthwhile and Jeremiah could enjoy his purchase. And as often happens with us, God’s subsequent word to him simply confirmed to him the truth of the conclusion he had internally reached, unspoken, unarticulated as it was.</p>


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<p>Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah saying- As explained on :16,17, God is asking him to believe in practice what he knew theoretically to be true.</p>


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<p>Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for Me?- See on :17. God quotes back his words of :17, asking him to believe in practice what he knew theoretically to be true. And we are invited to do so&nbsp; likewise through the experiences brought into our lives. See on <a href='B:300 33:3'>Jer 33:3</a>.</p>


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<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it- God repeats word for word what was in Jeremiah’s mind. This is the way His word works, taking our thoughts and fears right out of our minds.</p>


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<p>And the Chaldeans who now fight against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger- 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 of Yahweh’s condemnation (<a href='B:300 17:4'>Jer 17:4</a>). 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>).</p>


text:
<p>For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in My sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands, says Yahweh- God is agreeing with Jeremiah about the sinfulness of His people. "They have only provoked me" agrees with Jeremiah’s claim that they had done nothing of that which was commanded them (:23). God at great length portrays the sinfulness of His people; but in order to lead up to the overpowering wonder of the way that He, the God who can do anything, can forgive and restore even such people. Jeremiah balked at this, just as we may encounter someone so mixed up in their mind with addictions and other issues that we wonder whether they can ever be psychologically healed. It’s as if God goes through all their problems, agreeing with us that they are indeed incurable- and then cures them by His Spirit working in the innermost mind and heart of men.</p>


text:
<p>For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and of My wrath from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from before My face- Jerusalem was first built by Jews at the time of David and Solomon, and it seems that even from that time it provoked Him to wrath, and He wanted to remove it from His presence. The historical record is therefore very gracious in not recording all the idolatry which was ongoing there even in those times.</p>


text:
<p>Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem- And therefore, the king, princes, priests and false prophets were to be punished through the Babylonian invasion. 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.</p>


text:
<h4>They have turned to Me the back and not the face- Israel were driven away from God’s face / presence because they had already hid themselves from His face by their sins (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:300 32:33'>Jer 32:33</a> cp. 33:5). "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself" (<a href='B:350 13:9'>Hos 13:9</a>) says it all.</h4><h4>And though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction- Several times God speaks of His rising up early in the morning through the ministry of the prophets, every single day since Israel left Egypt (<a href='B:140 36:15'>2Ch 36:15</a>; <a href='B:300 7:13'>Jer 7:13</a>; <a href='B:300 7:25'>Jer 7:25</a>). The figure is stressed- God Himself rose up early every day to teach and appeal to His people (<a href='B:300 32:33'>Jer 32:33</a>). Alarm clocks have changed our appreciation of this. Have you ever had to make yourself wake up before dawn, without an alarm clock? You can only do it by having a deep internal, subconscious awareness that you must get up early. You don’t sleep well, you keep waking up and wondering if it’s time to get up. So to make oneself rise up early was easily understood as a figure expressing great mental effort. And God did this every day for centuries::.</h4>


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<p>Instead they set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to defile it- Ezekiel was given a vision of how within the holy place, idols were worshipped and even depicted upon the walls.</p>


text:
<p>They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech; which I didn’t command them, neither did it come into My mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin- "Neither did it come into My mind" suggests God as it were surprised and outraged that Israel did these things. 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>


text:
<p>Now therefore thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, concerning this city, about which you say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence- Who is meant by "you" is discussed on :43. It was God who had ’said’ that the city would be given to the Babylonians. But He seems to here rebuke Jeremiah for having said this to Him. Because His point was, and is for us too, that focusing solely upon His judgment of sin is so unbalanced as to be a lack of faith:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in My anger, and in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely- Dwelling safely in Jerusalem was a far cry from how things were at that time, with the city besieged. God’s message of restoration includes within it a complete recognition of their sins and His resultant, legitimate anger and fury with them. His ’indignance’ is all understandable given the extent of His love; for genuine love cannot exist in a vacuum. The abuse of that love is going to provoke anger, otherwise the "love" was not really legitimate and genuine.</p>


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<p>and they shall be My people, and I will be their God- This alludes to the promises to Abraham (<a href='B:10 17:8-10'>Gen 17:8-10</a>) which were the basis of the newcovenant God was now offering His repentant people (:40).</p>


text:
<p>and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for their good, and of their children after them- As explained on <a href='B:300 31:33'>Jer 31:33</a>, the new covenant involves God doing a psychological miracle on the spirit / heart of men through His Spirit being mixed with their spirit. They were still envisaged as having "children after them"; the possibility was that this situation could have arisen for the exiles in a restored Kingdom of God in Israel. Earlier, God had given His people "one heart" to be obedient (<a href='B:140 30:12'>2Ch 30:12</a> s:w:). The other reference to having "one heart" is when Judah had one heart to make David their king (<a href='B:130 12:38'>1Ch 12:38</a>). "David your king" is how the Messianic ruler of the restored kingdom is described (<a href='B:330 37:24'>Eze 37:24</a>). God was willing to give them one heart for him. But they didn’t repent, and refused to accept this new covenant. And so it didn’t happen; but the essence of the promise has been reapplied to a new Israel who now can enter this same new covenant and receive the same gift of the Spirit, and it will come to its ultimate fulfillment when the Kingdom is fully established on earth at the Lord’s return. But for now, the promise of the Spirit, the new heart which makes us fear God for our good, is absolutely real. He will put the fear of Him in our hearts (:40). Israel and Judah had previously taken the same "way", portrayed in metaphor as the way of sexual addiction and adultery against their God (s:w. <a href='B:330 23:13'>Eze 23:13</a>). But now they would be given one way, one worldview, one mindset, which would lead to the things of God’s Kingdom. This is not simply a case of confirming a person in the path they choose- it is giving people that heart and way, that mental pathway. All the exiles had to do was be willing to accept it, but they would not do even that. The power of pride and dislike of change was such that they didn’t want this new heart and spirit; and that is why people today refuse to accept the movement of the Spirit in their lives.</p>


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<p>And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will put My fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from Me- See on :39. God presents Himself in metaphor as following His people, perhaps alluding to a shepherd following His flock (<a href='B:370 7:15'>Amo 7:15</a>). He presents Himself as servile to His own people, so earnestly desirous is He to give us His fear in our hearts and to keep us from departing from Him. This relentless desire of God ’to do us good’ is part of what it means to be in the new covenant with Him. His effort is presented here as being particularly concerning the state of heart of His people. He so wishes us to be spiritually minded, and will work through every issue in our lives night and day in order to achieve this.</p>


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<h4>Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole soul- God solemnly promises "assuredly" that in truth, His whole heart and soul is behind doing His people good and saving them into His reestablished kingdom; see on :40. This is the huge activity operating upon those within the new covenant.</h4><h4>When Israel were so far from God, He foretold the day when "my people will be gorged with my grace" (<a href='B:300 31:14'>Jer 31:14</a>). The image of gorging upon grace is yet another reflection of the super-abounding nature of it. And this part of the new covenant to be made with Israel is true of us today, who have already entered that same covenant; it’s a thought we can dwell upon as we eat at the Lord’s table. And as we do so we can think of how God describes His feelings in all this: "I will find joy in them and in doing them good" (<a href='B:300 32:41'>Jer 32:41</a>). God simply loves pouring out such grace. Let’s try to catch something of this spirit of the grace of God. Let’s try to adopt God’s perspective. For what does He require more of a man, "but to do justly, and to love mercy (as God does, <a href='B:400 7:18'>Mic 7:18</a>), and to walk humbly with your God" (<a href='B:400 6:8'>Mic 6:8</a>)?</h4>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh: Like as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so will I bring on them all the good that I have promised them- The very phrase "bring::. good", translated "good comes", is used in <a href='B:300 17:6'>Jer 17:6</a> about the unbelieving Jews: "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:).</p>


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<h4>Fields shall be bought in this land- The power of the incident would have been if the witnesses and Jeremiah saw Jeremiah inhabiting the property he had bought, after the people had been restored to the land. A property then bought dirt cheap during the siege would then be worth so much more, and the power of the prophetic word would have been declared. But the restoration didn’t happen as was possible, and he died in exile in Egypt, never receiving the property. He will in some form receive it, therefore, at the resurrection; when like Daniel he will rise to stand in his allotted inheritance (<a href='B:340 12:13'>Dan 12:13</a>). So this incident again serves to demonstrate how much potential was wasted, and the awful human resistance to God’s desire to do them good.</h4><h4>About which you say, It is desolate, without man or animal; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans- The "you" could refer to Jeremiah, in which case we see him arguing with God, and his words being cited back to him by the God who knows every word and thought. If the "you" refers to the Jews, then we see how on one hand they believed Jeremiah’s words about the Chaldean victory, evidence for which was all around them; and yet on the other, they desperately clung to their belief in their idols, hoping against hope that the obvious truth would in fact not be true. This is typical of human nature, and is the sad attitude and belief system which many carry with them to their grave planks.</h4>


text:
<p>Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South: for I will cause their captivity to return, says Yahweh- The idea was that this would be the situation in the restored Kingdom of God in Israel which Jeremiah was prophesying. But here we read of buying for money, deeds, witnesses etc. The kingdom which was then possible was still somewhat human; the ultimate restoration of the Kingdom will not feature these things, and so we have to again conclude that the message of a restored kingdom was reapplied, reinterpreted and rescheduled to the last days. And not every detail of the original prophecies will therefore literally come about.</p>


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<p>Moreover the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard, saying- It seems that God’s answer to Jeremiah’s doubts about the restoration in Jeremiah 32 didn’t solve all his questions. And so God gives him another vision of reassurance about restoration. Jeremiah in Jeremiah 32 had felt that Israel’s sins were such that restoration was impossible. God’s answer is to take on board completely this concern, but to emphasize the power of His grace. If Jeremiah so struggled to accept the degree of God’s grace and power to change hard hearts::. we can expect that we will likewise. And so we need the further reassurance of this chapter just as Jeremiah did.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh who does it, Yahweh who forms it to establish it; Yahweh is His name- To not restore Israel, to not save His people, would be akin to having formed / created the world but not establishing it as a realistic abode for His people. The language here is borrowed from <a href='B:290 45:18'>Isa 45:18</a>, where also in a restoration context, Israel are encouraged that God formed the earth to be inhabited. If nobody will inhabit that Kingdom, then all creation was but labour in vain. God wants to save, He rejoices in doing so. See on <a href='B:300 32:40-41'>Jer 32:40-41</a>.</p>


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<p>Call to Me, and I will answer you, and will show you great things, and difficult, which you don’t know- This may be a personal invitation to Jeremiah (see on :1). He "knew" the theoretical truth of the restoration, but he had to "know" it personally, even though that realization would be both great and difficult. See on <a href='B:300 32:17'>Jer 32:17</a>; <a href='B:300 32:27'>Jer 32:27</a>. Jeremiah was representative of his people; in the restored kingdom, they would call and God would answer (s:w. <a href='B:290 58:9'>Isa 58:9</a>; <a href='B:290 65:24'>Isa 65:24</a>; <a href='B:450 13:9'>Zec 13:9</a>).</p>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defence against the mounds and against the sword- Jeremiah elsewhere criticized the building of these great houses on the walls of Jerusalem- for they were built on the back of abusing the poor for material and labour. They were finally torn down by the Babylonians (<a href='B:300 52:13'>Jer 52:13</a>), but even before that, the owners themselves broke them down and the materials were used to shore up the breaches in the city walls. Likewise there are foretastes of judgment ahead of time in the lives of all God’s people.</p>


text:
<h4>While men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in My anger and in My wrath- The great houses were filled with dead bodies; the wealthy homes which were the epitome of their wealth, pride, materialism and unspirituality, became their tombs.</h4><h4>And for all whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city- Israel were driven away from God’s face / presence because they had already hid themselves from His face by their sins (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:300 32:33'>Jer 32:33</a> cp. 33:5). "O Israel, thou hastdestroyed thyself" (<a href='B:350 13:9'>Hos 13:9</a>) says it all.</h4>


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<h4>Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them- The broken earthen bottle which was smashed couldn’t be made whole again- apparently (<a href='B:300 19:11'>Jer 19:11</a>). 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.</h4><h4>And I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth- This 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 (see on <a href='B:300 29:7'>Jer 29:7</a>). As noted on :1, Jeremiah wondered as to whether God could really psychologically restore such a corrupted people; just as we may wonder whether the Holy Spirit can really heal the hearts of the abused and drug addicted. God is encouraging him that this really could happen; He could and can cure the psychologically incurable.</h4>


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<p>I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first- Causing captivity to return can be read as simply meaning ’to revive the fortunes’. But they had been asked to return from exile to Zion, and spiritually, to return to their God. And here God is saying that He will cause them to return; if they wanted restoration and turning to God, then God would give this to them. Repentance is therefore a gift (<a href='B:510 11:18'>Act 11:18</a>). His causative power operates directly upon the human heart; for this prophecy is a follow on and back up to that of <a href='B:300 32:40'>Jer 32:40</a>.</p>


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<p>I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned against Me, and by which they have transgressed against Me- God would give not only repentance (:7) but also forgiveness. But His amazing offer labours the point four times in this verse- that they really had sinned against Him. And that needed to be recognized.</p>


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<p>This city shall be to Me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure to it- The amazing grace of God to His people, giving them both repentance (:7) and forgiveness (:8), would result in a peace with God which would become legendary. All nations of the eretz, including those who had abused Israel, would hear and perceive this grace, and come trembling to the God of Jerusalem in order to themselves partake of it. This is what could have happened at the restoration, but it has been reapplied to the last days. Really perceiving this grace is enough indeed to make a man "fear and tremble"; not from fear of condemnation, but in awe at the surpassing grace extended.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh: Yet again there shall be heard in this place, about which you say, It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal- "Yet again" demonstrates that the new kingdom to be established would be a restoration of the previous kingdom of God in Israel, although to a far grander extent. This is what will happen at the Lord’s return to earth (<a href='B:510 1:6'>Act 1:6</a>). There is an element of continuity with the previous kingdom; reminding us that the kingdom of God on earth is to be real and concrete and not purely abstract and immaterial. In Lamentations, Jeremiah laments the desolate state of the streets of Jerusalem; he appeared to have forgotten these wonderful prophecies of restoration, caught up as we can be in the tragedy of the moment.</p>


text:
<h4>The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to Yahweh of Armies, for Yahweh is good, for His loving kindness endures forever; who bring thanksgiving into the house of Yahweh- In the final restoration of the Kingdom, there will be no marriage (<a href='B:490 20:35-36'>Luk 20:35-36</a>). So this describes what could have been in the restored Kingdom at the restoration. It didn’t happen, and therefore the essence of the prophecies will come true at the Lord’s return- but not every detail. The building of the temple, institution of sacrifices etc. of Ezekiel 40-48 would appear to be another example of some of the literal physicalities intended which will not be literally fulfilled at the Lord’s return.</h4><p>For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first, says Yahweh- We read in <a href='B:300 33:11'>Jer 33:11</a>; Jer 3326 of God ‘causing’ the captives to return. The Hebrew in this phrase is intriguing and impossible to adequately translate- the idea is ‘I will cause by my very own self and will’. The whole force of God’s personality and His passions and emotions was behind His causing Judah to return to the land. But most of them withstood it. And so as we spread the appeal of God to men to return to Him, there is a huge Divine ‘will’ behind our message, God Himself in all His passion is behind our appeals.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Yet again shall there be in this place which is waste, without man and without animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down- "Yet again" demonstrates that the new kingdom to be established would be a restoration of the previous kingdom of God in Israel, although to a far grander extent. This is what will happen at the Lord’s return to earth (Act 1:6). There is an element of continuity with the previous kingdom; reminding us that the kingdom of God on earth is to be real and concrete and not purely abstract and immaterial. The idea of farmers and shepherds living within the area of the restored Zion is found in Eze 48:18 (see notes there). But the commands of Ezekiel 40-48 weren’t obeyed by the returned exiles.</h4>


text:
<p>In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks again pass under the hands of him who numbers them, says Yahweh- See on :12. <a href='B:330 20:37'>Eze 20:37</a> speaks of the returning exiles as flocks passing under the rod of the shepherd, who counts them that none be lost. Verse 22 is a designed contrast; the redeemed as Abraham’s seed cannot be numbered. And yet this shepherd, spoken of in the singular because one particular shepherd is in view, will be able to number them. The shepherd is seen as the Messianic priest-ruler; clearly this looks forward to the Lord Jesus, seeing the flock of exiles generally did not truly return.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will perform that word of grace which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah- Again it is emphasized that Israel and Judah would unite, due to the common experience of God’s grace. To be not only forgiven of so much sin, but even caused to repent (see on :7,8), is indeed a word of grace. No covenant based upon obedience could lead to their restoration; it had to be of grace alone, as it has to be for us too.</p>


text:
<p>In those days, and at that time, will I cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land- A branch growing out of David means that this person was the seed of David. Zerubbabel [’branch of God from Babylon’] could have fulfilled all this; but he didn’t. The promised seed of David was therefore fulfilled in the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:490 1:35-36'>Luk 1:35-36</a>). Executing justice and judgment was to be the characteristic of Abraham’s seed (the same three words are in <a href='B:10 18:19'>Gen 18:19</a>). The seed of David would be the seed of Abraham. The new covenant would be based upon the promises to Abraham. And yet it is God as judge of all the earth who executes justice (s:w. <a href='B:10 18:25'>Gen 18:25</a>). So this literal descendant of Abraham and David was to be the manifestation of God; all clearly to be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<h4>In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name by which it shall be called: Yahweh our righteousness- The effect of the Messianic ruler, the branch of righteousness of :15, will be that Jerusalem (put her for the people of Jerusalem and Judah) would also be known as "Yahweh our righteousness". The "our" refers not to Judah, but to some other group- the Gentile nations around them. As Yahweh had been her righteousness, imputing righteousness to them through the Messianic figure which looked forward to the Lord Jesus, so they would reflect their reconciliation to others. They would become righteousness for others as Yahweh had been their saving righteousness. This is to be our response likewise to what has been done for us by grace in Christ.</h4><h4>All this could have happened at the restoration. As Jerusalem was to be renamed "Yahweh is our righteousness" (<a href='B:300 33:16'>Jer 33:16</a> RV), so <a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a> likewise is a command rather than a prediction, that the city should be called this. But Judah didn’t do this. The concept has been reapplied to those who call Yahweh’s righteousness upon themselves in baptism. <a href='B:300 33:16'>Jer 33:16</a>; <a href='B:300 23:6'>Jer 23:6</a> etc. outlineGod’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>).</h4>


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<h4>For thus says Yahweh: David shall never want a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel- This implies that the ruler in the line of David would have children and descendants who would eternally continue reigning on David’s throne. That wonderful potential was not realized in Zerubbabel, and so the prophecy will come true in essence in that the Lord Jesus, the seed of David, will reign eternally.</h4><h4>In the context of the restoration from Babylon, David would never want a man to sit upon his throne; 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>


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<p>Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually- This again was the potential possibility; the system of offerings was to be restored in the rebuilt temple, and the Levites who served there would have an unbroken line of descendants who continued that work. But they were impenitent; this didn’t happen. Therefore Nehemiah was heartbroken that the temple was “forsaken”, because the “Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field” because the tithes weren’t paid to them (<a href='B:160 13:10-11'>Neh 13:10-11</a>). The essence of it came to be fulfilled in the eternal priesthood of the Lord Jesus, but the detail obviously wasn’t.</p>


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<p>The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah saying- It would appear that the fall of Jerusalem and exile meant that there was a feeling that the covenant relationship with God had been broken, and Israel were therefore no longer God’s people. Those who fail can at times be so swallowed up with the sorrow of condemnation that they believe there can be no way back for them (<a href='B:540 2:7'>2Co 2:7</a>). And so we have here the affirmation of God’s eternal faithfulness to Israel.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh: If you can break My covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, so that there shall not be day and night in their season- The whole of creation was bound up with Israel; all of creation came about for our sakes, God’s people. All the vastness is merely to provide a context for our redemption. Any breaking of covenant with God’s people is therefore tantamount to a breaking of covenant with day and night, and the entire solar system which provides them. There is no record of God having a covenant relationship with those entities; but here we learn that He does, insofar as He has a covenant relationship with His people.</h4><h4>And yet the covenant with Israel was broken, both by them and later confirmed by God from His side (<a href='B:450 11:10'>Zec 11:10</a>). The eternal nature of His covenant is therefore achieved by redefining the human parties; instead of the nation of Israel, the part became "David My servant" (:21), Messiah- and all in Him. The darkness that came down at the crucifixion would have recalled <a href='B:300 33:19-21'>Jer 33:19-21</a> - when day and night no longer follow their normal sequence, God is breaking His covenant with Israel. Israel’s condemnation would be that “even at midday you will grope like a blind man in the dark"(<a href='B:50 28:29'>Deu 28:29</a>). And yet the Lord would have known that He was suffering for Israel, treated as an apostate Israel, and thus He was the more inspired to pray for their ultimate forgiveness and salvation, seeing He had borne their condemnation. The Lord suffered “for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due" (<a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a> RVmg:). There are therefore elements of the crucifixion sufferings of Jesus in every suffering of natural Israel.</h4>


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<p>Then may also Mycovenant be broken with David My servant, that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne; and with the Levites the priests, My ministers- The old covenant was broken (<a href='B:450 11:10'>Zec 11:10</a>). But the kingly and priestly lines did not continue after the restoration. As explained on :20, the covenant was only unbroken in that the human party was redefined, from Israel as a nation to a singular king-priest who would be their representative- ultimately, the Lord Jesus. All those in Him would abide within the covenant, eternally.</p>


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<p>As the army of the sky can’t be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David My servant, and the Levites who minister to Me- Verse 13 and <a href='B:330 20:37'>Eze 20:37</a> speaks of the returning exiles as flocks passing under the rod of the shepherd, who counts them that none be lost. Here there is a designed contrast; the redeemed as Abraham’s seed cannot be numbered. And yet this shepherd, spoken of in the singular because one particular shepherd is in view, will be able to number them. The shepherd is seen as the Messianic priest-ruler; clearly this looks forward to the Lord Jesus, seeing the flock of exiles generally did not truly return. The seed of David was to multiply as the seed of Abraham; and it would be achieved as explained on :21, through the Messianic king-priest, the Lord Jesus, in whom all baptized into Him would also become part of this multitude of king-priests. But this far grander eventuality was only to come about because the possibility of fulfillment at the restoration didn’t happen, because the line of David and the Levites precluded it.</p>


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<p>The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah saying- The assurance which follows may have been given in answer to some specific question from the audience, or may be addressing some personal question of Jeremiah. The specific objection is stated in :34.</p>


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<p>Don’t consider what this people has spoken saying, The two families which Yahweh chose, has He not cast them off? Thus do they despise My people, that they should be no more a nation before them- The people of Judah appeared to think that now they had been treated like the ten tribes and sent into captivity, they like the ten tribes would be permanently rejected it. Judah had fed themselves with the elitist narrative that the exile of the ten tribes meant they were no longer the true people of God, whereas they as Judah had the temple with them, had not gone into exile, and were therefore God’s true people. But now they too had gone into exile. This is the problem of being harshly judgmental of others; those who are such often then discover that they have actually committed the same sins as those they once so harshly judge. And their response is often to walk away from the things of God because they think that they too are condemned beyond redemption. And so Judah despised themselves now they too were carried away into exile and had lost the temple; considering they could never again be Yahweh’s people. In this context comes the message of restoration, possible for those who believed in it.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh: If My covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth- The whole of creation was bound up with Israel; all of creation came about for our sakes, God’s people. All the vastness is merely to provide a context for our redemption. Any breaking of covenant with God’s people is therefore tantamount to a breaking of covenant with day and night, and the entire solar system which provides them. There is no record of God having a covenant relationship with those entities; but here we learn that He does, insofar as He has a covenant relationship with His people.</p>


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<p>Then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David My servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them- See on :11. One understanding of this would be that Yahweh ’cast away’ 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 He did not cast off His people in that the seed of Jacob was to be redefined- not as a nation, but as His great individual seed, Jesus, and all those baptized into Him. And yet perhaps here we against have the paradox of grace. 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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<p>The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army and all the kingdoms of the land that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of it, saying- The emphasis is upon how indeed all nations of the lands around Israel came to fight against Jerusalem.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, Go speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burnit with fire- This was surely a conditional prophecy, even though no condition is given at the time: “I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire”. But the Jews made some sort of repentance, releasing their slaves… and the Babylonian armies retreated (<a href='B:300 34:21-22'>Jer 34:21-22</a>). Then they enslaved their brethren again- and, v:22 says, only because of this did the Babylonian armies return and burn Jerusalem. Thus the initial prophecy of burning with fire was conditional. And the Jews realized this and therefore repented. In similar vein, “the king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land” was capable of not being fulfilled, if Judah would only have repented (<a href='B:300 36:3'>Jer 36:3</a>; <a href='B:300 36:7'>Jer 36:7</a>; <a href='B:300 36:29'>Jer 36:29</a>):&nbsp;</p>


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<p>and you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon- This was still conditional; Zedekiah could have repented. It was because he did not humble himself before the words of Jeremiah that the destruction and exile happened (<a href='B:140 36:12-17'>2Ch 36:12-17</a>). Zedekiah did see the eyes of the king, but his eyes were then put out. But it seems that in his blindness he repented to some degree.</p>


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<p>Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus says Yahweh concerning you, You shall not die by the sword- This was the previous judgment upon Zedekiah and the royal family (specifically :20; <a href='B:300 21:7'>Jer 21:7</a>; <a href='B:300 21:9'>Jer 21:9</a>; also <a href='B:300 9:16'>Jer 9:16</a>; <a href='B:300 15:9'>Jer 15:9</a>; <a href='B:300 20:4'>Jer 20:4</a>; <a href='B:300 24:10'>Jer 24:10</a>). The idea may be that if he repented, a different destiny was possible. And indeed, he died in peace, albeit blind and in exile. We can conclude therefore that in the blindness and imprisonment he experienced, he did repent. Blindness was used as a spur to repentance in the lives of Saul, Elymas and others.</p>


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<p>You shall die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they make a burning for you; and they shall lament you saying, Ah Lord! Because I have spoken the word, says Yahweh- Previously, the fate of Zedekiah was to have been the consuming of his carcass in shame (<a href='B:300 19:7'>Jer 19:7</a>). As noted on :4, the Divine intentions for Zedekiah were changed because of his later repentance:&nbsp; The prophecy here mentions no conditions. But consider the words of <a href='B:330 12:13'>Eze 12:13</a> about the same man: “My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon…yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there” [i:e. he would be made blind before arrival]. The surrounding verses give an accurate prophecy of how Zedekiah was captured whilst fleeing from Jerusalem. And the same is said in <a href='B:300 32:4'>Jer 32:4</a>; <a href='B:300 38:17'>Jer 38:17</a>. It surely has to be recognized that the ‘prophecy’ that Zedekiah would die in peace was conditional upon his obedience to the word of Jeremiah- even though those conditions aren’t recorded (although they are implicit surely). See on :20.</p>


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<p>Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem- Given the power of Zedekiah against people like Jeremiah, this was spoken with great bravery, that was motivated by a real desire to see his repentance.</p>


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<p>when the king of Babylon’s army was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities- "Remained" is the word for "remnant". It is this "remnant" which could have repented and been saved. The rest of Judah had fallen apart from them. We constantly encounter all the potential salvations that were possible.</p>


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<p>The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them- God’s response to this covenant was to speak of His own covenant with Israel (:13). His covenant relationship with them was conditional upon their covenant attitude to each other; and that is an abiding principle. Relationship with God depends upon our relationship and attitude to each other; as John puts it, we cannot claim to love God without loving our brother. This is why attitude to others within the covenant is so critically important, as upon that our whole relationship with God may stand or fall. It was apparently a jubilee year, when the slaves should in any case be released. This explains why they had a choice; to give the land and people rest, or to allow the land and common people to "keep Sabbath" in the desolation and exile which would happen after the invasion.</p>


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<p>that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make bond servants of them, of a Jew his brother- Heb. ’should work through them’, i:e. "should employ them for forced labour". It was on the back of this kind of abuse that the wealthy had built their great houses in Jerusalem. They were supposed to release them anyway in the Sabbath year, and that year was a jubilee year as well (:17). If they enslaved their brethren, then they were to be enslaved by the Babylonians. If they liberated their brethren, then they would be liberated from otherwise certain bondage(<a href='B:300 30:8'>Jer 30:8</a> uses the same language). Again we must perceive the point- that abuse of our brethren will lead to our condemnation. Our attitude to those weaker than ourselves is so critically important; it is upon this that our relationship with God depends. In the light of this, we must carefully reassess any policies of disfellowship which our church, fellowship or denomination demands us to uphold. As we have been called to freedom, our attitude to our brethren should be seeking to liberate them, rather than enslave them. The tragedy is that at the restoration, these abusive practices were revived (<a href='B:160 5:5'>Neh 5:5</a>), when it was exactly because of them that Judah had gone into captivity.</p>


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<p>All the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant and everyone his female servant, go free, that none should make bond servants of them any more; they obeyed, and let them go- All those obeyed who had entered the covenant; which might suggest some didn’t even enter it. 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.</p>


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<h4>but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids- Note the play on the word "return". By making their servants ’return’ to bondage, they were ’returning’ to the bondage of sin and selfishness. And this example is so true to our lives- we can forgive a person at one point in time, or in some way ’release’ them; but find it impossible to maintain that intensity, just as David failed with Shimei.</h4><p>There was a clear commandment to release their bondservants in the Sabbath year (<a href='B:20 21:2'>Exo 21:2</a>; <a href='B:50 15:12'>Deu 15:12</a>). But these slaves had likely sold themselves into that bondage. And with Jerusalem consumed by plague, famine and the effects of the Babylonian siege, these people had no choice but to immediately sell themselves back into that slavery. Technically, it could be argued that the wealthier Jews had done nothing wrong. But clearly they had disobeyed the spirit of the law- that their brethren should not be in permanent bondage to them, but should be given the freedom which is intended for every human being. This keeping the letter of the law but breaking the spirit of it was deeply abhorrent to God; and so they are condemned for doing so. We cannot adopt a spirit of brinkmanship with God; rather are we to wholeheartedly follow the way of love, kindness, sensitivity and empathy.</p><h4>The prophets not only reflected God’s dismay and passionate feelings, they expressed their own dismay too. Lack of justice was a major concern of the prophets. But to us, injustice may be so commonplace we don’t really worry about it too much. Given all the idolatry going on at the time of Jeremiah, we’d have expected the condition for being spared judgment at the hands of their invaders to be: ’Throw your idols away!’. But here God had offered them a reprieve if they stopped abusing their brethren. When, temporarily, the Jews ceased doing that and proclaimed liberty to their brethren- the pending judgment was put on hold. When they again abused their brethren, not giving them the "liberty" which must be afforded to all those made in God’s image, then the Babylonians returned. And we need to ask whether we proclaim liberty to our brethren- or abuse them by not allowing them the basic freedom which is the dignity God allows to each of His children. It’s rather like Paul writing to the Corinthians, and firstly addressing the sin of their divisiveness. What about their drunkenness at the breaking of bread, false doctrine, idolatry, using temple prostitutes? Paul focuses firstly on the sin of their divisions.</h4>


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<p>Therefore the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying- As noted on :11, what the wealthy had done was technically withinthe limits of the law, but was such an obvious abuse of it that God responds very sternly.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh, God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying- God’s covenant with His people at this point was dependent upon their abiding by the covenant agreement to not abuse and rather liberate their brethren. Accepting covenant relationship with God involves a solemn understanding that we are not to abuse the weak, but are to do to them as God has done with us. We are to take them out of bondage, not into it. And we can return people to bondage by guilt tripping them and places burdens upon them.</p>


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<h4>At the end of seven years you shall let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers didn’t listen to Me- Serving six years was counted inclusively as serving to the end of seven years. There was to be a generosity of spirit in dealing with their brethren.</h4><p>Neither inclined 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 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.</p>


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<h4>You had now turned, and had done that which is right in My eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name- They turned in repentance, and then turned back (:16). The turning of their captivity was to be response to their final turning back to God; the idea of ’turning’ / repenting is such a major theme in Jeremiah. For all their sins of rebellion and idolatry, the threatened judgment could have been turned away simply if they repented of this one thing. This highlights how critically important is love for our brethren, and not seeking to get out of our responsibilities to the weak by claiming technical obedience to Divine law. For this was just what they were doing- capitalizing on their brethren’s poverty by letting them sell themselves to them as slaves, abusing their services, and then technically releasing them but letting these poor people sell themselves back into slavery to them soon afterwards.</h4>


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<p>but you turned and profaned My name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return; and you brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids- God’s Name has within it the ideas of salvation, redemption and liberation of His people. To act contrary to that is to profane His Name. This is the essence of blasphemy. God will not let His Name be polluted by His people (<a href='B:290 48:11'>Isa 48:11</a>; <a href='B:330 20:9'>Eze 20:9</a>). But they did pollute His Name (<a href='B:300 34:16'>Jer 34:16</a>), and the restored exiles did just the same rather than learn any lesson (<a href='B:460 1:7'>Mal 1:7</a>). God invites us to see His efforts to stop His Name being polluted as somehow defeated by the extent of Israel’s pollutions. This theme comes out clearly in Ezekiel: they polluted Him, but He strove lest His Name should be polluted. Here is the extent of freewill which God gives man to sin- and also the extent of the hopefulness of God. It’s as if He didn’t imagine they would pollute Him as much as they did.</p>


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<h4>Therefore thus says Yahweh: you have not listened to Me, to proclaim liberty each man to his brother and each man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says Yahweh, to the sword, to the plague and to the famine- The play upon ’proclaiming liberty’ has more appropriacy when we appreciate that this was a Sabbath and jubilee year. There is definite allusion to the prophecy of <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a>, that the reestablished Messianic kingdom would be heralded by a proclamation of liberty to the captives; the same Hebrew phrase is used. Jeremiah’s proclamation of this liberty was therefore a foretaste of that; if the Jews had accepted it and themselves proclaimed it, then despite all their other weaknesses, the most amazing turnaround could have happened. They who were on the brink of miserable destruction and condemnation could have been transformed into the restored Kingdom of God. The liberty was proclaimed to them. But instead they preferred petty power over others; their short term selfishness was too great, and the most wonderful, eternal opportunity was missed. They refused to accept their weaker, poorer brethren as their neighbours and equal brothers. And so it is with people to this day</h4><h4>And I will make you to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth- 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.</h4>


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<p>I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts- The covenant in view seems specifically the covenant to release the slaves (:8). A calf was cut in two, representing how they would be cut in pieces if they failed to keep it. This contrasts with the new covenant, which was based upon the promises to Abraham. As noted on Genesis 15, this was a unilateral covenant from God to man. Yahweh alone passed through the pieces, whereas Abraham remained powerless to do so. He was simply the recipient of grace. The old covenant in the law of Moses was different; it depended upon the human side keeping their part of the agreement. It seems that now, at this dire point, God was willing to retain Israel within the covenant, even though they had broken it- if they kept their side of it, in simply liberating their brethren and not abusing them. But they failed to do even that, and so they were to be cut to pieces. But in grace, even that didn’t happen to them all. For many of them went into exile rather than being slain with the sword, and as noted on Jeremiah 33, Zedekiah died in peace rather than be cut in pieces.</p>


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<p>the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf- As explained on :18, this meant that they were to be cut into parts, seeing they had broken the covenant. They of course would have argued that they didn’t break the covenant; they had freed their slaves, but the slaves being in desperate straits had sold themselves back to them for another six years soon afterwards. But they were breaking thereby the obvious spirit of the law, and this was counted as having broken the covenant agreement made, to liberate their brethren.</p>


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<p>I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth- The covenant of Genesis 15 featured the passing between the pieces, with birds of prey eager to come and eat the pieces of the slain calf. They had broken the covenant and were to be treated likewise. As explained on :19, they would have argued that they hadn’t broken the covenant in the letter; but they had in spirit. And so they were to be cut in pieces and eaten by wild animals, with no decent burial. All because they refused to liberate their brethren. But did this really happen to them? The impression is given that the royal family went into exile and Zedekiah himself died in peace. Here again we would then see God in wrath remembering mercy, such was His grace.</p>


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<p>Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army who have for now gone away from you- To be given into the hand / power of those who want to kill you is surely tantamount to saying that they will kill you. As explained on :4,5, this was initially the prophetic scenario for Zedekiah; he would die by the sword. But by grace this was changed; he didn’t repent at that time when he was intended to, and yet he presumably did later, after he was blinded and imprisoned.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, I will command, says Yahweh, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant- The ’return’ of Judah to the sin of abusing their brethren, even despite doing to technically in the name of casuistic obedience to the law, was what caused the Babylonians to return. God placed such huge significance upon their attitude to their brethren; to the point that He effectively makes the entire return of the Babylonians to destroy the city and temple to pivot upon this matter.</p>


text:
<p>The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying- The book of Jeremiah isn’t arranged chronologically, but perhaps thematically. For this follows on from the theme of disobedience in Jeremiah 34.</p>


text:
<p>Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Yahweh, into one of the rooms, and give them wine to drink- The Rechabites were a wandering tribe descended from the Kenites (<a href='B:130 2:55'>1Ch 2:55</a>; <a href='B:720 1:16'>Jud 1:16</a>). Being given wine to drink by a prophet was a symbol of judgment. They refused to drink it because of their obedience to principle. Whilst judgment cannot be avoided, perhaps the idea is that people could be saved from judgment because of obedience- which is the context provided by the previous chapter (see on :1).</p>


text:
<p>Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, all his sons and the whole family of the Rechabites- These three names all include the name"Yah". These wandering Gentiles (see on :2) had clearly accepted the Jewish faith and Yahweh as their God. If"the whole family"were brought into the temple for this occasion, they may not have been that numerous; they had all fled into Jerusalem for fear of the Babylonians.</p>


text:
<h4>and I brought them into the house of Yahweh, into the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God- If as AV"a man of od", this may be a comment upon his spirituality. He would have been one of a very small remnant of faithful priests.</h4><p>Which was by the room of the princes- The rooms around the temple were intended for the priests. But they were in coalition with the princes, and so the princes had some of the Levites’ chambers in the temple.</p><h4>Which was above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold- This may have been the Maaseiah of <a href='B:300 21:1'>Jer 21:1</a>; <a href='B:300 29:25'>Jer 29:25</a>; <a href='B:300 37:3'>Jer 37:3</a>; <a href='B:300 52:4'>Jer 52:4</a>, who was one of the"priests"who were generally condemned and judged. The temple was used for this object lesson in order to make a public witness to the priests and princes.</h4>


text:
<p>I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups; and I said to them, Drink wine!- The Hebrew for"bowls"is mainly used about the"bowls"of the candlestick. Perhaps abuse of alcohol had become part of the general apostasy and idolatry going on in the temple.</p>


text:
<p>But they said, We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us saying, You shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your sons, forever-"Our father"doesn’t have to mean that the"Rechabites"were his literal descendants; they may have been attracted to this ascetic lifestyle and considered themselves the spiritual descendants of Jonadab.</p>


text:
<p>neither shall you build house, nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard nor own one; but all your days you shall dwell in tents; that you may live many days in the land in which you live- Houses, fields and lands could legitimately be bought and sold, and would be in the restored kingdom (<a href='B:300 32:15'>Jer 32:15</a>). It seems the connection with this verse is intentional. The point could be that these people were obedient to principles which were not strictly correct, they were not kingdom principles; and God’s people can take a lesson from those who are fiercely loyal to principles which aren’t correct. For how much stronger should be our loyalty and obedience to that which is ultimately true."If they can do that for that, then how much more should I::."give my best for His highest.</p>


text:
<p>We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters- Drinking wine was in fact one of the covenant blessings. The commend not to drink wine was therefore out of step with God’s kingdom principles; as noted too on :7. And yet despite the fact that the Rechabites ’got it wrong’ in their understanding of things, their names openly reflect their commitment to Yahweh (see on :3) and despite their misplaced idealism and faulty understanding, God accepted that and held them up as an example to those of His people who were merely living according to the flesh.</p>


text:
<p>nor to build houses for us to dwell in; neither do we have vineyard, nor field, nor seed- It could be that these commands about vineyard and seed refer specifically to seeds of the vine, as if this strange situation arose from a desire to be Nazirites, but it became twisted into a tradition and formalism which they blindly adhered to. As noted on :8, the Rechabites come over as a case of misplaced idealism, and yet they are commended. We conclude therefore that intellectual purity of understanding is not utterly critical to acceptability with God.</p>


text:
<p>but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us- The phrase for"obeyed and done"is that used of Israel’s obedience to the commandments of God in the old covenant (<a href='B:50 6:3'>Deu 6:3</a>; <a href='B:50 7:12'>Deu 7:12</a> and often). The Rechabites are being held up as an example of how Israel ought to have kept their Heavenly Father’s commandments. They didn’t do so because they failed to grasp that He really was their Father and they had responsibility to Him which arose from a sense of personal family loyalty.</p>


text:
<p>But it happened, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians; so we dwell at Jerusalem- They were forced by the invasion to break some of their covenant loyalty; perhaps to make them reflect that the laws they were keeping were not in fact so important. They were driven into Jerusalem as the invasion was designed to drive the Jews to God.</p>


text:
<p>Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah saying- The lesson of the Rechabites was not just to be for those gathered in the temple at that time, but to be spread throughout the community (:13).</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Go, and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction to listen to My words? says Yahweh- This is not quite the same as saying"Will you not listen to My words". It was through receiving instruction that they would listen to or be obedient to God’s words. The same phrase is translated"receive correction"(<a href='B:300 2:30'>Jer 2:30</a>). The invasion was designed to correct them and make them sensitive and obedient to God’s words; but they like us at times refused that education. We see here how God doesn’t simply give commandments and waits for obedience to them. He takes the initiative in seeking to give stimulus for that obedience. In this sense He gives repentance, and not simply forgiveness (<a href='B:510 3:25-26'>Act 3:25-26</a>; <a href='B:510 11:18'>Act 11:18</a>).</p>


text:
<p>The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and to this day they drink none, for they obey their father’s commandment: but I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; and you have not listened to Me- The Rechabites wouldn’t drink wine nor live in cities, just because they respected the commands of their ancestor about these matters. Yet Yahweh God of Israel had been rising up early, sending His prophets, pleading with Israel to hear. And His people didn’t take Him seriously at all. If the sons of Rechab could live as they did, based on their obedience to human words and traditions, why couldn’t Israel even more so when it came to God’s word? And so with us. There are communities which blindly follow the faith of their fathers, obedient to their traditions and demands regarding, e:g:, whom they marry. If men and women can be so obedient to the word of men… shouldn’t the word of God , black print on white paper that it is, but nonetheless the same word that made Moses tremble and that Sinai ablaze, have an even deeper impact and more insistent imperative in our lives?</p>


text:
<h4>I have sent also to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return now every man from his evil way- The prophetic word was not generic, it had a way of appealing to every hearer individually.</h4><p>And amend your doings, and don’t go after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers- Even when Jerusalem was about to fall to the besiegers, there was still the possibility that they could remain in the land- if they repented and humbled themselves before God’s word.</p><h4>But you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to Me- 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>


text:
<p>Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me- Just as in Jeremiah 34 the whole purpose of God in destroying Judah could have been changed had they stopped abusing their servants, so here too there was a single challenge given- to accept that they hadn’t obeyed their God as the Rechabites had obeyed their fathers. But they refused to humble themselves to realize that.</p>


text:
<p>therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard; and I have called to them, but they have not answered-"Heard"has the idea of ’understanding’. God expects us to understand much more than we think He does. Thus He condemned Israel in Jeremiah’s time because He had spoken to them but they had not understood, and therefore they had not responded. They heard the word, as we read it, but they didn’t really hear His voice. They thought that getting to grips with God’s word was just for those who were into that kind of thing; with the result that God rejected them. The evil was pronounced, but in the gap between the statement and the fulfillment of it, they could have repented and changed the outcome; the evil would not then have happened. The pronouncement of judgment was not therefore stated simply in Divine anger; it was His calling to them. And yet they would not answer.</p>


text:
<p>Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you- The blessing was that they would eternally have their family members standing before God in the priesthood (:19). And yet the priesthood ended, and the children of Jonadab didn’t eternally"stand before Me". So we can conclude that the idea here is that if they continued obeying their father, then God would count that as obedience to Him, and they ould continue standing before Him. I noted above that the commandments given by Jonadab were not completely correct and were based upon misunderstandings. But God was eager that they continued keeping them. It’s as if they had misplaced ideals and miseducated conscience; but God commended them for respecting that conscience, and encourages them to continue in it. We would perhaps have expected Him to correct them on an intellectual level, and redirect their zeal towards keeping His commandments rather than Jonadab’s. But as with many folks today, it seems God accepts their intellectual failure on some points, and is glad they live in good conscience before Him within the limits of their understanding, even if there is a degree of misconception within that understanding.</p>


text:
<p>therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before Me forever- See on :18. This didn’t actually happen, because they didn’t continue upholding the precepts of their father. And the priesthood was ended.</p>


text:
<p>It happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying- Perhaps this was at the end of the fourth year of the reign, just before the fast at the beginning of the fifth year was proclaimed (:9). Judah were still relatively prosperous at this time. This was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar; and so the events of this chapter come to a climax in the proclamation in :29 that this new king was to destroy Judah.</p>


text:
<p>Take a scroll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day- Jeremiah’s words were to Israel as well as Judah in that it was God’s intention they should also repent, and join with Judah in a reestablished Kingdom of God in Israel on the basis of a new covenant. However LXX reads"Jerusalem"for"Israel". The idea was that others would read and re-read these words.</p>


text:
<p>It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin- The evil purposed need not have come about- if they repented. The"purpose"of God is therefore open ended and sensitive to human repentance. This verse would be a parade example of it. <a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a>; <a href='B:300 26:3'>Jer 26:3</a> use the same word to say that God will"repent of the evil that I purposed to do to them".</p>


text:
<h4>Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh, which He had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book- This usage of Baruch could have been because Jeremiah was illiterate; or because Jeremiah’s current situation meant that the work of writing out a scroll was impossible for him.</h4>


text:
<h4>Jeremiah commanded Baruch saying, I am shut up; I can’t go into the house of Yahweh- There is no mention that Jeremiah was imprisoned, although he may have been (s:w. Jer 33:1; Jer 39:15). The same word is used of Doeg being"detained before the Lord"(1Sa 21:7). Perhaps Jeremiah was unclean, or even under some rebuke from Yahweh which precluded his entry to the temple. The idea is that he was"unable"(s:w. 2Ch 2:6). He has used the word to describe how God’s word was"shut up"within him and he had to as it were release it by speaking it (Jer 20:9).</h4>


text:
<p>therefore you go, and read in the scroll, which you have written from my mouth, the words of Yahweh in the ears of the people in Yahweh’s house on the fast day; and also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities-"The fasting day"may refer to the day of atonement, the only day of fasting required by the law. This would have been the most appropriate time to call for radical repentance.</p>


text:
<p>It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will return each one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the wrath that Yahweh has pronounced against this people- As often in the prophets, the appeal is to the individual-"each one::."(as in :3). The day of atonement was not to be some mere collective ritual; the breaking of bread service likewise can slip into this. It was intended to elicit personal repentance from each individual. No collective ritual could change things; only individual repentance. See on :16.</p>


text:
<p>Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of Yahweh in Yahweh’s house- This was no mere secretarial task; for the appeal to repentance and message of condemnation would have been received with anger by many, and the natural reaction would have been to shoot the messenger.</p>


text:
<p>Now it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Yahweh- The LXX has"the eighth year"which would better fit the events of <a href='B:120 24:1-20'>2Ki 24:1-20</a>. It could be that this special fast was proclaimed after news came through of the Babylonian defeat of the Egyptian army, which the Jews had always relied upon rather than trusting in Yahweh. We noted on :6 that Jeremiah’s previous appeal had been made on the fasting day of the day of atonement. But clearly the fasting had not been unto repentance; and now another fast is proclaimed. The collective ritual of that day had remained at the level of mere religion, just as the breaking of bread service can; and so now another fast was proclaimed, outside of the Mosaic law; for the day of atonement was in the seventh month not the ninth month (<a href='B:30 16:29'>Lev 16:29</a>). Although it may be that Babylonian months are being used here.</p>


text:
<p>Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house, in the ears of all the people- As explained on :9, this was the same book which had been read some months previously at the day of atonement. It was an attempt to get Israel to keep the spirit of that day although on a different date and apparently without the sacrifices- in the hope they would perceive the essential intention of the ritual, which was personal repentance. God may likewise move in the lives of His people to help them to the same position.</p>


text:
<p>When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of Yahweh- Micaiah responds to the challenge of the words, and perceives the urgent need for national repentance. But he had heard these words delivered by Jeremiah over time, and presumably had heard them recited quite recently in :6-8. But as with us, the same words may be heard or read, but only at another reading does the personal reality of them strike home. Micaiah’s response here is absolutely psychologically credible and imaginable.</p>


text:
<p>he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s room: and behold, all the princes were sitting there, Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes- See on :11. We may wonder why they were sitting in the room of the scribe. The reference may be to some senior scribe who was effectively the secretary of the Government; some manuscripts read"Elishama the scribe"(see :20). But the scribe in view may also be Baruch; as if they were there expecting to also hear Baruch’s words from Jeremiah but in a private sitting. We at least get the impression that"the princes"were interested in hearing God’s word. See on :14.</p>


text:
<p>Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people- We note the second and third hand nature of all this. Jeremiah spoke the original words of Yahweh, and Baruch wrote them down faithfully. Micaiah heard them and told the princes; the princes then attempt to tell their version of them to Zedekiah. But he then calls for the scroll itself, and destroys it. It’s as if the record is careful to answer any objection that the truths of God’s word got lost in transmission. The king is presented as without excuse.</p>


text:
<h4>Therefore all the princes- 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.</h4><h4>Sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the scroll in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand, and came to them-"Cushi"was likely not a real personal name, but a reference to the fact that this man Jehudi [a form of ’Judah’ or as we might say, ’the Jew’] was descended from a Cushite. We recall how later it would be Ebedmelech the Cushite who saved Jeremiah from the dungeon. Perhaps the impression is being given that those of Gentile descent were more responsive toGod’s word than the Jews. The continual attempts by Judah to trust in Egypt rather than Yahweh over the years may have resulted in these Cushites coming to live in Jerusalem. And yet the result of that weakness on Judah’s part was that some Gentiles turned to Yahweh. God always works through human failure rather than turn away in disgust and disengage from the situation.</h4>


text:
<p>They said to him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears- The invitation to"sit down"suggests he stood there uncertain as to whether they would wish to hear him read it to them. But they ask him to; see on :14.</p>


text:
<p>Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one towards another, and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words- See on :14. However, although their response was commendable, they perhaps failed to perceive that this was a call to personal repentance; see on :7. They immediately experienced group think; they assumed that the decision to repent must be taken on a group level, and so they were desirous for the king to hear the words and proclaim a group position. But as made explicit in :3 and :7, the call to repentance was specifically personal. This confusion of personal and corporate positions is so often seen in the living and thinking of those who are more strongly religious than they are spiritual.</p>


text:
<p>They asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How did you write all these words at his mouth?- As explained on :16, they were sensitive to the need for repentance, but were shying away from the personal challenge. And that desire to not let God’s word personally"bite"is perhaps also reflected in their questioning, after some time had passed, as to whether this word they had heard was really Jeremiah’s inspired word. The questioning of inspiration is likewise rooted in a desire not to hear God’s word making radical demands of us.</p>


text:
<p>Then Baruch answered them, he pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book- See on :17. The idea is that he wrote down the words immediately Jeremiah spoke them. Baruch assures them that it was an accurate transcript with nothing of his own added in.</p>


text:
<h4>Then the princes said to Baruch, Go, hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no man know where you are- Perhaps the princes doubtless had in mind the fate of Uriah (<a href='B:300 26:23'>Jer 26:23</a>). The suggested hiding place was the “Grotto of Jeremiah” near the “Quarries of Solomon” outside the Damascus Gate. See on :26.</h4>


text:
<h4>They went in to the king into the court; but they had laid up the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe; and they told all the words in the ears of the king- They wished to make a public separation between themselves and the scroll, even though the words had touched their consciences. They intended to give the king a potted and perhaps ameliorated version, in the hope the king might make some surface level reforms in response.</h4>


text:
<h4>So the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll; and he took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes who stood beside the king- The events are described slowly and deliberately because of the gravity of the blasphemy which was to follow, and the consequences of it. The princes and courtiers heard the same word, and were therefore responsible for not responding to it.</h4>


text:
<p>Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him-"The ninth month"seems to add nothing, and the LXX omits it. However the idea may be that the ninth month was a time of cold and rain (<a href='B:150 10:9'>Ezr 10:9</a>). The winter house was likely just the downstairs of his palace; the summer house was the upstairs, and not necessarily a separate building. Again we note the high level of detail in this record; not just the fire but the brazier is noted. It’s as if the cameraman has zoomed in on the scene and is recording all the details, that we might imagine it. All the king did was to be done to Jerusalem; for the city was to become a brazier when the Babylonians judged it with fire.</p>


text:
<h4>It happened, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier-"Leaves"is literally ’columns’ or ’doors’, which is what the sections of text looked like on the scroll. Cutting them was what was to be done to the columns and doors of the temple and the king’s house. Our attitude to God’s word will be directly reflected in our final judgment. The pen knife was Baruch’s, and was probably attached to the scroll as part of his scribal equipment. The consciousness of the king’s actions is laboured- he took the pen knife out of the scroll and used what was intended to sharpen the pen / word of God, and used it to destroy that word.</h4><h4>Until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier- He cut every"three or four leaves"and threw them into the fire, until the scroll was no more. We have the impression of a conscious act of slow, deliberate attempt to destroy God’s word because he didn’t like the message. This is why the Bible text has been so attacked, suppressed, physically destroyed, mocked and challenged by false claims- because the message hits home too hard in the subconscious. No other collection of documents has suffered the same extensive campaign against it- because there is nothing like God’s word to pierce and challenge the conscience.</h4>


text:
<p>They were not afraid, nor tore their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words- The king’s actions were slow and deliberate; every three or four leaves were cut out of the scroll and burnt, and the onlookers would have watched the flames quickly devouring them. There is a time to speak out, and this was such a time. All present are condemned for saying nothing, for making no sign of grief for what was being done to God’s word. Although"the princes"aren’t mentioned here, as a nod to their conscience toward the word of God (see on :14,25), they were in the end condemned for their attitude. This is typical of how sins of omission are counted by God as sins of commission. Silence is indeed culpable in situations like this. The sin of silence remains an abiding lesson for us of all generations.</p>


text:
<p>Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the scroll; but he would not hear them- Three of the five princes listed in :12 are mentioned by name as making this protest. Their protest was noted by God in the record; but their failure to tear their clothes is also noted (:24). They were touched in their conscience by God’s word; but finally the sin of silence, despite their slight protest, was counted against them. Such was the nature of the blasphemy.</p>


text:
<p>The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Yahweh hid them- They had been advised to hide (see on :19), but apparently they had not done so. They were unashamed of God’s word and the consequences for declaring it. And God looked after them. The hiding of these prophets recalls the hiding of the true prophets at the time of Ahab; the king is being set up as Ahab.</p>


text:
<p>Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying- This word presumably came to Jeremiah whilst in hiding (:26). The record labours the sin- the scroll was burnt, namely ["and"serves to introduce a parallel statement here] the words of God.</p>


text:
<p>Take again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned- This recalls how the wooden yoke of Jeremiah was broken by those who resisted that prophetic word, and was replaced by a yoke of iron (<a href='B:300 28:13'>Jer 28:13</a>). God’s word and the purpose reflected in it cannot be destroyed by shooting the messenger or burning Bibles. But if that is attempted, then the judgment is only increased.</p>


text:
<h4>Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, Thus says Yahweh: You have burned this scroll saying, Why have you written therein saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from there man and beast?- This was in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar (see on :1); and so the events of this chapter come to a climax in the proclamation in :29 that this new king was to destroy Judah. There was a studied refusal to believe that these words were from God. The accusation was that Baruch and Jeremiah had written these things; when they were transmitting God’s word and not their own. In essence, this kind of thing continues to this day, no matter how it has been made intellectually respectable; God’s words and His challenges to human conscience are passed off as merely the words of men.</h4><h4>The statements that the Babylonians would"certainly"destroy the land were all the same conditional prophecy, even though no condition is given at the time. But the Jews made some sort of repentance, releasing their slaves… and the Babylonian armies retreated (<a href='B:300 34:21-22'>Jer 34:21-22</a>). Then they enslaved their brethren again- and, <a href='B:300 34:22'>Jer 34:22</a> says, only because of this did the Babylonian armies return and burn Jerusalem. Thus the initial prophecies of burning with fire which were repeated here, were conditional. And the Jews realized this and therefore repented.</h4>


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<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost- 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 toDavid in 2 Samuel 7 nor in the apparent blanket statement of <a href='B:300 33:17'>Jer 33:17</a>. 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, and perhaps even this blasphemous man repented to some degree.</p>


text:
<p>I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because they didn’t listen-"His servants"were those who watched the burning of the scroll and didn’t tear their clothes. This sin of silence would lead to their judgment. And the ordinary people were likewise to be condemned, because there ought to have been mass popular revolt against Jehoiakim for what he did. Again, the lesson is all about"the sin of silence", especially when that silence is a suppression of conscience in order to merely continue a status quo which the conservative streak in every human nature tends to prefer.</p>


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<p>Then took Jeremiah another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and there were added besides to them many like words- The judgments for sin were increased because of the refusal to accept the first judgments. We imagine the scroll being produced whilst in hiding (:26) and then being released so that Jehoiakim heard the contents. Baruch’s faithful part in the publication of the word is again emphasized; for he was risking his life to do this. Again we wonder if Jeremiah was unable to write, seeing that again there is the same process of Jeremiah uttering words and Baruch transcribing them.</p>


text:
<p>Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah- Jeconiah is now called Coniah; the"Yah"prefix is dropped from his name.</p>


text:
<p>But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of Yahweh, which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah- Zedekiah certainly listened to them and was apparently eager to do so; but we see here the crucial difference between listening, and really listening. This remains a challenge to us, and the more familiar we become with the text of Scripture, the more intense is the challenge. It can help to read the same text from different versions or even in different languages if we can; to by all means try to let God’s word hit us afresh as if for the first time. Again we note the parallel between the leadership and the"people of the land"; they got the leadership they subconsciously wanted.</p>


text:
<h4>Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah saying, Pray now to Yahweh our God for us- God had three times told Jeremiah not to pray further for the people (<a href='B:300 7:16'>Jer 7:16</a>; <a href='B:300 11:14'>Jer 11:14</a>; <a href='B:300 14:11'>Jer 14:11</a>). But Jeremiah knew God well enough to still pray, and God was open enough to dialogue to still answer (:7). Zedekiah was no atheist- he wanted others to pray for him, although he personally would not hear God’s word (:1). And he was earnestly interested in knowing whether there was any word from God for him (:17). We note Zedekiah’s diffidence to approach Jeremiah directly; perhaps"the priest"was a relative of Jeremiah.</h4><h4>The prayers were asked for at the very time when Judah’s hopes were upon Egypt defeating the Babylonians (see on :6). Although Judah were often condemned for trusting the Egyptians rather than Yahweh, they still wanted Jeremiah to pray for Yahweh’s help to be with the Egyptians. This is typical of how they committed spiritual adultery with multiple partners, mixing faith in Yahweh with faith in Egypt. See on :8.</h4>


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<p>Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people; for they had not put him into prison- To ’go in and out among’ can be used as a metaphor for leadership or position of influence. But the term may simply mean he had free movement, and moved amongst the people with his message.</p>


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<p>Pharaoh’s army had come forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they broke up from Jerusalem- It seems in essence that this situation will be repeated when the latter day Babylon as"king of the north"invades Israel (<a href='B:340 11:44'>Dan 11:44</a>). Those who learnt anything from Bible history will see the similarity and put their faith in God rather than the hope of human deliverance. For Judah’s faith was in Egypt rather than in their God.</p>


text:
<p>Then came the word of Yahweh to the prophet Jeremiah saying- This prophecy was to address the way in which Judah were eagerly watching to see whether Egypt would defeat the Babylonians, and thereby lift the threat to them. As the prophets often lament, their faith was in Egypt and not in Yahweh. It might have seemedabsolutely the wrong time to make this challenge to them; but it had to be said, in hope they would repent. See on :3.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, You shall tell the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me- This desire to get someone else to pray for you is often mentioned in the Bible. Israel could have had a direct relationship with God as they stood before Him at Sinai, but instead wanted Moses to mediate His word to them; Elymas wanted Peter to pray for him likewise. The unique feature of the one true God is that He invites personal relationship with Him; spirituality rather than mere mass religion.</h4><h4>Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come forth to help you shall return to Egypt into their own land- The Egyptians had their own agenda for wanting to fight the Babylonians; they didn’t come solely to save Judah. And yet that was how Judah liked to imagine it, and God here goes along with their reasoning.</h4>


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<h4>The Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city; and they shall take it- As ever, reading all of Scripture enables us to see the wider picture. We know from <a href='B:300 34:16'>Jer 34:16</a> that the Jewish leadership ’returned’ from their covenant to liberate the poorer brethren whom they had previously abused; and so the Chaldeans would ’return’ and destroy them because of this. But in this prophecy, the overall summary is presented. But the return of the Chaldeans was in fact a conditional prophecy; it need not have happened if the Jews had repented meaningfully of their attitude to their poorer brethren.</h4><h4>And burn it with fire- The punishment for a whore, which is how Jerusalem had been to God through trusting in Egypt and other nations against Babylon. See on :3.</h4>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh, Don’t deceive yourselves by saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us; for they shall not depart- I noted on <a href='B:300 4:10'>Jer 4:10</a> that Jeremiah had falsely accused God of deceiving the people. This corrects him on this point; the people were self deceived, through listening to the deceit of their false prophets (<a href='B:300 29:8'>Jer 29:8</a>). As explained on :8, the Chaldeans could have ’departed’ from them if they had let depart their brethren whom they were abusing as servants and slaves (<a href='B:300 34:16'>Jer 34:16</a>). But instead of doing this, they chose to deceive themselves that the Babylonians would in any case depart from them. We see here how people believe what is subconsciously convenient to them. And indeed the unregenerate human heart is the great deceiver, and not some cosmic being called Satan.</p>


text:
<p>For though you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet would they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire- The idea is that whatever temporary reverses the Babylonians might appear to suffer, the purpose of God was that they should be used to destroy Judah- unless the Jews repented. All human victories are but short term compared to the final judgment of God. And we need to get that right in our minds for all time."Wounded"translates the word usually used for"thrust through", referring to the final death wound of a foe. The idea is therefore that even if they were struck down dead, they would be resurrected in order to do God’s work against Judah. And this likewise was what could spiritually happen to Judah; they could be revived as the dry bones prophecy of Ezekiel 36 demonstrates.</p>


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<p>It happened that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army-"Was broken up"suggests someone broke them up. And that was God, in response to the Jews’ apparent repentance of enslaving their brethren. Earlier they had asked Jeremiah to pray that the Chaldeans would be broken up from them (s:w. <a href='B:300 21:2'>Jer 21:2</a>). God was not open to that request from Jeremiah- because the condition for the Chaldeans leaving was the peoples’ repentance for abusing their brethren. Only they could do that, and no intercession from a third party could change that condition.</p>


text:
<p>then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion there, in the midst of the people- Jeremiah had been told to purchase a field, which he would receive at the restoration (<a href='B:300 32:7-9'>Jer 32:7-9</a>). It seems this was a momentary lack of judgment on his part- he wanted his inheritance right away, rather than waiting for God’s time. However, the Hebrew is difficult here. The&nbsp; AV has"to separate himself thence in the midst of the people". It could equally mean that he had had enough of his ministry in Jerusalem and wanted to separate himself from being in the midst of an apostate people. He learnt his lesson- for at the end of his life, when given the choice of the easy life as guest of honour in Babylon or remaining in the ruined land of Judah, he chose to remain with God’s people. And finally, when they disobeyed God and chose to flee to Egypt, Jeremiah went with them, to continue appealing to them. The Hebrew could also mean that he slipped through the gates hiding himself in the midst of the people. Whatever, these three translation options all suggest a not very good decision by Jeremiah. However, it could also be that he was being obedient toGod’s word- to go out to the Babylonians (<a href='B:300 21:9'>Jer 21:9</a>; <a href='B:300 38:2'>Jer 38:2</a>; <a href='B:300 38:18'>Jer 38:18</a>) in recognition of the fact that Judah had sinned and deserved to be dominated by their enemies in accordance with the covenant of Deuteronomy 28. The fact the Chaldeans were in retreat at the time, apparently scared by the Egyptian army (:11), showed all the more faith on Jeremiah’s part. But he was not allowed to do this act of faith and obedience by others- and so it can be with us. And yet when arrested, Jeremiah denies he is going to the Chaldeans (:14)- even though he had preached that this is what the Jews should do. So it does seem, however we look at this incident, that Jeremiah acted in momentary weakness.</p>


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<p>When he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet saying, You are falling away to the Chaldeans- The details are given as if the cameraman is close up, to enable us to imagine the scene; and the full details of Irijah’s family background are given because of the significance of his false accusation. There were Jews who had fallen away to the Chaldeans (s:w. <a href='B:300 38:19'>Jer 38:19</a>), but the implication is that Jeremiah felt his motives to be totally different.</p>


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<p>Then Jeremiah said, It is false; I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he didn’t listen to him; so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes- Jeremiah himself taught that Israel should surrender to the Babylonians, in accordance with God’s word. He himself tried to do this, in obedience; but he was caught by the Jews. He promptly denied that he was doing this, overcome by the patriotism of the moment, in a desire to save his skin (<a href='B:300 37:14'>Jer 37:14</a>; <a href='B:300 38:2'>Jer 38:2</a>).</p>


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<h4>The princes were angry with Jeremiah and struck him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison- 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, imprisoned 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>)."Jonathan the scribe"may have been a secretary; or a religious scribe. His complicity is therefore the worse.</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.</h4>


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<p>When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days- These"cells"were cabins excavated out of the sides of the shaft of the dungeon."Many days"there would have left people with post traumatic stress if nothing else.</p>


text:
<p>then Zedekiah the king sent and fetched him: and the king asked him secretly in his house saying, Is there any word from Yahweh? Jeremiah said, There is. He said also, You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon- The ’word’ that Zedekiah would be delivered into the hand of the Chaldeans had already been given several times by Jeremiah (<a href='B:300 21:7'>Jer 21:7</a>; <a href='B:300 22:25'>Jer 22:25</a>; <a href='B:300 32:4'>Jer 32:4</a>; <a href='B:300 34:3'>Jer 34:3</a>; Jer 3421). Perhaps this was no new revelation, but rather Jeremiah reminding Zedekiah of God’s word. We can seek some new insight, some new ’word from the Lord’- when actually the answer is staring us in the face in His word which we already know. We perceive that Zedekiah was desperate to hear God’s word; despite being characterized as not listening to it (:2). The religious conscience within all men is strong; and those who have been exposed to the one true God will always be unable to totally forget Him. Zedekiah was asking for this revelation from God at the very time when all his hopes were pinned upon salvation from Egypt (:5); and yet even then, he had this uncanny sense that he needed revelation from Yahweh. We recall Saul’s desperate seeking for God’s word the night before he was killed.</p>


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<p>Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, Wherein have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?- Jeremiah’s questions were perhaps simply to plead for deliverance from what appeared certain death in the dungeon (:20). But perhaps he also was seeking for Zedekiah’s repentance for having treated him like this. Jeremiah hoped this would be elicited by presenting Zedekiah with the question as to what, exactly, had Jeremiah done wrong? And what had provoked his imprisonment was his touching of the king’s conscience by challenging him to repent. And Jeremiah was asking the king to recognize that, and live according to his conscience before Yahweh.</p>


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<p>Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?-"Your prophets"sounds as if Zedekiah had surrounded himself with those who spoke what he wanted to hear; it’s as if he had appointed his personal prophets. We can effectively do the same, by listening only to those teachers whom we know are going to say that which we wish to hear.</p>


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<p>Now please hear, my lord the king: please let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, unless I die there- We sense the awful desperation of Jeremiah, facing a slow and miserable death. When Zedekiah called Jeremiah out of the prison house to meet him and show him the word of God, he ought to have perceived that he was going through the very experience of Pharaoh with Joseph (<a href='B:300 37:17'>Jer 37:17</a>; <a href='B:300 37:20'>Jer 37:20</a>). Jeremiah’s desperate plea not to be sent back to prison to die there surely echoes that of Joseph to his brethren; for Jeremiah was let down like Joseph had been into a pit with no water in, so reminiscent of Joseph (<a href='B:10 37:24'>Gen 37:24</a>). But Zedekiah didn’t want to see all this; he should’ve listened to Jeremiah, as Pharaoh had listened to Joseph and saved himself. It was all potentially set up for him; but he refused to take note.</p>


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<h4>Then Zedekiah the king commanded and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard; and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street- The events of chapter 38 show how this assurance was not kept by Zedekiah- a reflection of his powerlessness, as well as the weakness of his character. We sense Zedekiah wanting to do the right thing, to save God’s prophet from death, even bringing him to live in the court of the guard within his own palace; and yet being so consumed by issues of image; and fears about irrelevancies that arise from assuming we are not going to die, nor face Divine judgment for our sins.</h4><h4>Until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard- This could have been the words of Zedekiah, as if he recognized there would come about a point when all the bread was finished, and Jeremiah was to be fed until the very end. But the idea may be that it was when this point was reached that the walls were breached and the city fell (<a href='B:300 52:6'>Jer 52:6</a>); as if to say that Jeremiah had bread right up to the end.</h4>


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<p>Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah and Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people saying- Gedaliah was the son of the Pashhur of <a href='B:300 20:1'>Jer 20:1</a> who had put Jeremiah in the stocks. Jucal is that of <a href='B:300 37:3'>Jer 37:3</a>. The other Pashhur is that of <a href='B:300 21:1'>Jer 21:1</a>.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh, He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine and by the plague; but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he shall live- Jeremiah himself taught that Israel should surrender to the Babylonians, in accordance with God’s word. He himself tried to do this, in obedience; but he was caught by the Jews. He promptly denied that he was doing this, overcome by the patriotism of the moment, in a desire to save his skin (<a href='B:300 37:14'>Jer 37:14</a>; <a href='B:300 38:2'>Jer 38:2</a>). Jeremiah wanted to flee the city so as not to die; he very nearly did die of famine (:9), in order to achieve his total identification with his sinful people. This identification was why the Lord died the death of a criminal on the cross.</h4><h4>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.</h4>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it- It was on one hand"sure"and certain, but right up to the very end, it was possible for Judah to repent and the siege to be lifted. ’Given::. and taken’ is the term used for how Yahweh gave the cities of Canaan to Israel and they took them (<a href='B:60 10:32'>Jos 10:32</a>). He had given Jerusalem into the hand of their enemies- exactly the opposite of how people then understood a tribal god to act. He was supposed to always protect his city from the hand of their enemies, regardless of their morality. Yahweh was showing Himself to be so much more than mere religion, a simple tribal god. Denominationalism can be little more than believing in tribal deities.</p>


text:
<p>Then the princes said to the king, Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but their hurt- The hands of the Jews are contrasted with the hands of Babylon (:3). They were as it were arm wrestling against God’s intentions. The Jews were to be repentant and"seek the welfare"or"peace"of Babylon, to the end Babylon might repent and become part of God’s restored kingdom (<a href='B:300 29:7'>Jer 29:7</a>). This was such a radically different agenda to that of the flesh. By their impenitence, the Jews were seeking hurt and not peace / welfare to themselves&nbsp; (<a href='B:370 5:14'>Amo 5:14</a> s:w:).</p>


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<p>Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you- The LXX makes this clause a comment of the narrator (“For the king was not able::."). Jeremiah in :15 didn’t consider this to be the case, understanding it rather as an excuse. Zedekiah ought to have reflected that his lack of hand / power in this matter was true on a larger scale too; for he had been given into the hand of the Babylonians (:3). God may bring a smaller scale situation into our lives to teach us of our powerlessness on a larger scale.</p>


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<h4>Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard- AVmg. "the son of Hammelech" (<a href='B:300 36:26'>Jer 36:26</a>). This was as it were the punishment cell within the prison.</h4><h4>And they let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mud; and Jeremiah sank in the mud- See on :22. The only way to eat would have been to have food lowered down, and seeing the city was suffering famine, chances of survival were slim. The pit in which there was no water would have reminded him of Joseph’s experience (<a href='B:10 37:24'>Gen 37:24</a>), and he may well have looked therefore towards some miraculous deliverance. His thoughts at this time are in Lamentations 3, where he wrote in his mind a prayer or psalm about it. But he felt his prayers were shut out by the covering placed upon the dungeon (<a href='B:310 3:8'>Lam 3:8</a>; <a href='B:310 3:53'>Lam 3:53</a>), and he was enclosed within hewn stone (<a href='B:310 3:9'>Lam 3:9</a>)- what the dungeon walls were made of. It was presumably a sewer, with excrement falling before his face. He therefore felt he was in a living death and burial, surrounded by gravel stones as if in a grave (<a href='B:310 3:16'>Lam 3:16</a>). His enemies mocked him from above (<a href='B:310 3:14'>Lam 3:14</a>), pouring water that was probably excrement upon him (<a href='B:310 3:54'>Lam 3:54</a>; as the dungeon was a sewer), his teeth were broken from the beating and perhaps from the descent into the dungeon (<a href='B:310 3:16'>Lam 3:16</a>), and he felt bitter with God rather than full of faith and hope in deliverance (<a href='B:310 3:15'>Lam 3:15</a>). But then his faith revived, reflecting how God had still not destroyed Judah by His great grace (<a href='B:310 3:22'>Lam 3:22</a>), and therefore every day he survived until morning he saw as God’s grace to him, in which he could hope (<a href='B:310 3:23'>Lam 3:23</a>). He realized he was Judah’s representative; for they too were to be sent forth from Babylon, the pit in which there was no water (<a href='B:450 9:11'>Zec 9:11</a>). And this gave him hope; just as God’s great grace to Israel historically should be basis for our hope. See on :13.</h4>


text:
<p>Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin)- This was the spot where Jeremiah had been arrested (<a href='B:300 37:13'>Jer 37:13</a>) and earlier had been put in the stocks there (<a href='B:300 20:2'>Jer 20:2</a>). Perhaps therefore the king’s inner thoughts were upon Jeremiah, and Ebedmelech was guided therefore to approach the king at just the right time.</p>


text:
<p>Ebedmelech went forth out of the king’s house and spoke to the king saying- He approached the king outside of the king’s house, privately. Always we sense Zedekiah’s concern about image and what others would think of him.</p>


text:
<h4>My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is likely to die in the place where he is- Heb. "is dead of hunger on the spot". This kind of apparent exaggeration is common in Semitic languages.</h4><p>Because of the famine- Jeremiah had frequently prophesied that the impenitent Jews were to die of the famine. Now, Jeremiah is on the brink of death because of famine. He was led by these experiences to absolutely identify with the condemned. Just as the Lord Jesus died the death of sinners, of a criminal, and thereby tasted death for every man. Being a captive in the dungeon who is released is exactly the language of Isaiah about the release of the exiles from captivity. Jeremiah was their example and personification. They could have followed his path, but chose to remain in that dark dungeon of Babylon.</p><h4>For there is no more bread in the city- This was only true at the end (<a href='B:300 52:6'>Jer 52:6</a>); if it were literally true, there would have been no point in releasing Jeremiah. This exaggerated language is not corrected, as often in the Biblical record.</h4>


text:
<p>Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian saying, Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies- That it would take thirty men to get Jeremiah out of the dungeon indicates the serious depth to which Jeremiah had sunk. And there was the possibility of opposition to Ebedmelech if he attempted to do this alone. We can imagine the racism against an Ethiopian, especially as Egypt / Ethiopia had now been shown to be false friends of Judah and powerless to help Judah. Yet God so loves to work through the despised and marginal.</p>


text:
<p>So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out clothes and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah- It was common in those days to symbolically tear clothes in grief. And what then happened to the clothes? They were kept in the treasury, as the material itself was valuable. These symbols of past repentance were used to save Jeremiah’s life.</p>


text:
<p>Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put now these rags and worn-out clothes under your armpits under the cords. Jeremiah did so- We note Ebedmelech’s sensitivity, imagining how the cords would bite into Jeremiah’s armpits unless there was some material to cushion them. His voice echoing down the sewer would have seemed as the voice of God responding to Jeremiah’s feeble prayers as recorded in Lamentations 3.</p>


text:
<h4>So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard- Perhaps Jeremiah as Judah’s representative experienced the ’drawing up’ unto salvation offered to Judah in the new covenant, when he was "drawn up" out of certain death in the dungeon (<a href='B:300 38:13'>Jer 38:13</a>, s:w. "with loving kindness have I drawn you [up]", <a href='B:300 31:3'>Jer 31:3</a>). His hope in salvation from the pit was because he perceived he was Israel’s representative; see on :6. The dungeon "was in the court of the guard" so Jeremiah would have lived continuously within sight of the dungeon of death, the ultimate punishment cell in the makeshift prison.</h4>


text:
<h4>Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of Yahweh- Or, "the entry of the body-guard". Perhaps this was the king’s special entry to the temple (2Ki 16:18).</h4><h4>And the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me- Zedekiah was aware that Jeremiah would be tempted to give him only some of God’s word, hiding from him the harder parts. Zedekiah wanted God’s truth, and yet was unprepared to act upon it. That is so true of so many people, and probably of all of us at some times and in some ways. To ’want to find the truth’ can be trendy and attractive; but the question is not so much as to whether we have an interest in finding it, but will we do with it once confronted with it. See on :26.</h4>


text:
<p>Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me- Jeremiah clearly didn’t accept Zedekiah’s plea of impotence in :5. Instead of simply begging Zedekiah for deliverance and saying what Zedekiah wanted to hear, Jeremiah comes over as absolutely committed to the truth of God’s words about the situation.</p>


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<h4>So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah saying, As Yahweh lives, who made us this soul, I will not put you to death- The fact God has given us life ought to mean that we are truthful and honest in our words; and that we will seek to preserve the life of others rather than take it from them. This is all the implication of the most basic truth of the Genesis record- that God created man and made him a living soul / creature.</h4><h4>Neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life- This may have been said with a nod towards "these men" nearby. It contradicts Zedekiah’s excuse that he could do nothing against the will of his courtiers in :5. We too can plead weakness, railroading and impotence to justify our lack of purpose and commitment to principle.</h4>


text:
<h4>Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel: If you will go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and you shall live, and your family- Jeremiah picks up on Zedekiah’s comment that God made us this soul (:16). This is the way towards dialogue; using the words and phrases of others and reframing them in a way which will therefore be the more persuasive to them. God here offers salvation from the whole judgment scenario for the sake of just one thing- if Zedekiah had surrendered to Babylon. Likewise if the Jews had properly released their bondservants, then the Babylonians would have departed. All the idolatry, murder and spiritual prostitution would have been overlooked just for the sake of one act of obedience. These offers were made in order to highlight the importance of the request being made- in this case, to accept the rightness of the Divine judgment for sin. Just one man’s humility could have averted so much suffering. But human fear and pride was too great to allow it.</h4><h4><a href='B:300 34:5'>Jer 34:5</a> says that "You shall die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they make a burning for you; and they shall lament you saying, Ah Lord!". It surely has to be recognized that the ‘prophecy’ that Zedekiah would die in peace was conditional upon his obedience to the word of Jeremiah- even though those conditions aren’t recorded (although they are implicit surely).</h4>


text:
<h4>But if you will not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire- God somehow arranged things within His purpose so that Zedekiah’s repentance would have enabled the salvation of all Israel. But his failure to repent meant that judgment came on His people. What this shows is that there are times and places where God is willing to save people for the sake of the spirituality of a third party, but if he or she fails in this, deliverance doesn’t necessarily arise from another place, as it would have done in Esther’s time.</h4><h4>And you shall not escape out of their hand- Zedekiah’s attempt to escape the city was therefore made in conscious disobedience to these words.</h4>


text:
<p>Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and they mock me- These were the Jews who had accepted their judgment was just and had surrendered. They had likely been abused by Zedekiah and the Jewish leadership beforehand. And so he feared they would mock him. Jeremiah had used just this word about what would be done to Jerusalem by the Babylonians (<a href='B:300 6:9'>Jer 6:9</a>), but Zedekiah’s pride was such that he feared the mocking of his fellow Jews more than he did that of the Babylonians. We have a window here into the extent of his pride, and the fears which arise from pride.</p>


text:
<p>But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver you. Obey, I beg you, the voice of Yahweh, in that which I speak to you: so it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live- These Jews were those who had heeded Jeremiah’s warnings and surrendered to the Chaldeans in recognition of their sins. They were therefore probably known to Jeremiah, and would therefore welcome Zedekiah’s surrender. The implication is that Zedekiah’s soul would not live unless her surrendered. But he didn’t surrender. Yet by grace he was not killed, but actually died in peace in Babylon. Presumably he did therefore repent, and God by utter grace changed his deserved punishment.</p>


text:
<p>But if you refuse to go forth, this is the word that Yahweh has shown me- The Hebrew for "refuse" is only elsewhere used of Pharaoh refusing to let Israel go (<a href='B:20 8:2'>Exo 8:2</a>; <a href='B:20 9:2'>Exo 9:2</a>; <a href='B:20 10:4'>Exo 10:4</a>). The deliverance of Israel was likewise being allowed to hinge upon the humility or pride of one man. Zedekiah was surely intended to see the appeal to precedent in Biblical history, just as we often are. This is one advantage of being familiar with the text and basic narrative of the Bible through daily Bible reading.</p>


text:
<p>behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say, Your familiar friends have deceived you and have prevailed over you. Your feet are now sunk in the mud, and they now turn away from you- Preaching has to be personal. For God is all about the salvation of persons; and He hungers for intimacy with her persons whom He has created. We each make an individual witness, and that witness is intended by God to be uniquely suitable for certain people within our sphere of contact. Jeremiah is an example of how our witness to others should be framed in the language of our own experiences, thus giving it credibility. He had just been in the dungeon, where he had sunk down in the mud (<a href='B:300 38:6'>Jer 38:6</a>). But he soon afterwards appeals to Zedekiah to have the courage to do what God wants and not what his princes think is humanly smarter. Metaphorically, Jeremiah says, it was Zedekiah whose “feet are sunk in the mire” (<a href='B:300 38:22'>Jer 38:22</a>). ‘Spiritually, you’re like I was physically’, was what Jeremiah was saying. And because he personalized his message in this way, it became all the more credible. Thus a blind brother can speak about our spiritual blindness with an obvious appropriacy and credibility which the sighted lack. This is why all witness simply has to be personal- impersonal handing out of tracts or hiding behind web sites on the internet isn’t the essentially personal witness which God intended.</p>


text:
<p>They shall bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans; and you shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and you shall cause this city to be burned with fire- Zedekiah’s attempt to escape the city was therefore made in conscious disobedience to these words. We note the emphasis upon the suffering of women and children&nbsp; (:22,23). It is simply so that there are consequences of human sin which mean that others are affected far beyond the sinner. The innocent suffer because of the sins of others. That is why sin is so multi dimensional; although in this case it would be true to say that the women themselves were also guilty of idolatry (<a href='B:300 7:18'>Jer 7:18</a>; <a href='B:300 44:17'>Jer 44:17</a>). But this could have been overlooked for the sake of one man’s humble repentance.</p>


text:
<p>Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and you shall not die- Again, his claim of being impotent to save Jeremiah in :5 is shown to be false. He was worried lest it become known that God had made this deal with him, whereby his repentance alone could radically affect the outcome for Jerusalem. Again, his pride and concern about image is so pathetically apparent. His offer of not killing Jeremiah if he didn’t publish this latest word from the Lord is in fact similar to what he imagined the princes’ position would be (:25). So this was but a carefully calculated offer.</p>


text:
<h4>But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and tell you, Declare to us now what you have said to the king; don’t hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said to you- This connects with how Zedekiah had asked Jeremiah not to "hide" God’s word from him; see on :26.</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.</h4>


text:
<p>then you shall tell them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house to die there- The dungeon of death was in the court of the guard, where Jeremiah was now located. He likely was quartered just meters away from it. "Jonathan’s house" was perhaps a name for that dungeon of death. And Jeremiah surely had requested this, and so this was not untrue; but it was a hiding from the princes of what had really transpired. Zedekiah had asked Jeremiah not to do this to him, but to give full disclosure of God’s word (:14). He ought to have reflected upon this inconsistency, and instead have openly told the princes of the situation and his obedience&nbsp; to God’s word.</p>


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<p>Then came all the princes to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived- The fact we are now reading of it shows that it was of course finally perceived. LXX "And they were silent, because the word of the Lord was not heard". Zedekiah heard the word, but didn’t really hear it; just as we can hear and read the word of God but not really hear it. This surface level hearing of God’s word becomes a more acute temptation as we become the more familiar with the Bible text.</p>


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<p>So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken- We imagine the Babylonian soldiers closing in on the court, the guards fleeing, and the soldiers encountering the grateful but confused prisoners.</p>


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<p>It happened when Jerusalem was taken, (in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and besieged it- The exacter date is given in <a href='B:300 52:4-7'>Jer 52:4-7</a>, meaning that the siege lasted exactly 18 months.</p>


text:
<p>in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city)- The Babylonians made a breach in the wall to the north, from where the cherubim had left and would return. But Zedekiah tried to escape by digging a hole in the southern wall (<a href='B:330 12:12'>Eze 12:12</a>). He did to the city what the Babylonians did, living out his own condemnation; see on :7. This "breach" is the same word used for the breaking up of things at the time of the flood (<a href='B:10 6:11'>Gen 6:11</a>), a well established foretaste of the destruction of Jerusalem by the flood waters of the Babylonians, albeit with the promise of a new creation coming as a result of it.</p>


text:
<h4>that all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate- The gate separating the citadel of Zion where the temple was, from the rest of Jerusalem. In other words, the temple was about to be taken.</h4><h4>Nergal Sharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon- These are titles rather than personal names. Many of them are plays on the names of their gods, such as Nebo. Rabmag was the master of the magi, and the idea was that the gods of Babylon had triumphed over Jerusalem.</h4>


text:
<h4>It happened that when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls- It seems Zedekiah had taken refuge in the temple. From there, he saw the princes of Babylon who had breached the northern wall and were now at the temple gate (:3). And so they fled by "the king’s garden", which was his own private entrance to the temple, and then came to the double walls of the southern perimeter of the city. Zedekiah himself dug through those walls, the strongest point of his defence and human strength(<a href='B:330 12:12'>Eze 12:12</a>). He was being taught that all human defence, and the physical temple, was not going to save him.</h4><h4>And he went out towards the Arabah- "Went out" is the language of Judas going out (<a href='B:500 13:30'>Joh 13:30</a>), Cain ’"went out" (<a href='B:10 4:16'>Gen 4:16</a>), as did Zedekiah in the judgment of Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 39:4'>Jer 39:4</a>; <a href='B:300 52:7'>Jer 52:7</a>). Esau went out from the land of Canaan into Edom, slinking away from the face of his brother Jacob, sensing his righteousness and his own carnality (<a href='B:10 36:2-8'>Gen 36:2-8</a>). Even in this life, those who leave the ecclesia ’go out’ after the pattern of Judas, condemning themselves in advance of the judgment by their attitude to the ecclesia (<a href='B:690 2:19'>1Jn 2:19</a> cp. <a href='B:510 15:24'>Act 15:24</a>). The unrighteous flee from God now, as they will then (<a href='B:350 7:13'>Hos 7:13</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath- The main lying helpless on the Jerusalem - Jericho road was surely modeled on Zedekiah being overtaken there by his enemies. That weak, vacillating man basically loved God’s word, he wanted to be obedient, but just couldn’t bring himself to do it. And so he was, quite justly, condemned. It’s as if the Lord saw in that wretched, pathetic man a type of all those He came to save. And even in this wretched position, the Lord will pick us up and carry us home. Pursuing and overtaking are the words used of the punishment to come upon those who broke the covenant (<a href='B:50 28:45'>Deu 28:45</a>).</h4><h4>And he gave judgment on him- He ’spoke judgments’, as if Zedekiah were a common criminal no longer protected by his royal status. <a href='B:120 25:5'>2Ki 25:5</a> adds the detail that his army was scattered from him; he was left alone to face judgment. This was God’s intention; to make Zedekiah face judgment alone, so that he might be the more in touch with his God and repent. For this is one function of the loneliness which God brings.</h4>


text:
<p>Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon killed all the nobles of Judah- The princes were killed, but Zedekiah was spared. He had been given a wonderful opportunity to repent in Jeremiah 38, but had spurned it. And yet he was still spared the loss of his life, although he had been told he would lose his life (<a href='B:300 38:17'>Jer 38:17</a>). Presumably his deep repentance as he faced his condemnation was so impressive that God spared his life; whereas the princes didn’t repent.</p>


text:
<p>Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon- This is how Jeremiah saw Nebuchadnezzar’s eyes (<a href='B:300 34:3'>Jer 34:3</a>) and yet came to Babylon without seeing it (<a href='B:330 12:13'>Eze 12:13</a>). Zedekiah fled Jerusalem disguised as a woman with his face so bound around with some disguise that he couldn’t see (<a href='B:330 12:12'>Eze 12:12</a>). He was living out his own condemnation, which was to be blinded. See on :2.</p>


text:
<p>The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem- Israel were told to "throw down", "break in pieces" and "utterly destroy" the idols and altars of Canaan. There were times during their history when they obeyed this command by purging themselves from their apostasy in this. The Hebrew words used scarcely occur elsewhere, except very frequently in the context of how God "broke down", "threw down" and "destroyed" Israel at the hands of their Babylonian and Assyrian invaders as a result of their not ’breaking down’ (etc:) the idols. "Throw down" in <a href='B:20 34:13'>Exo 34:13</a>; <a href='B:50 7:5'>Deu 7:5</a>; <a href='B:50 12:3'>Deu 12:3</a>; <a href='B:140 31:1'>2Ch 31:1</a> is the same word in <a href='B:140 36:19'>2Ch 36:19</a>; <a href='B:300 4:26'>Jer 4:26</a>; <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 33:4'>Jer 33:4</a>; <a href='B:300 39:8'>Jer 39:8</a>; <a href='B:300 52:14'>Jer 52:14</a>; <a href='B:330 16:39'>Eze 16:39</a>; <a href='B:410 1:6'>Nah 1:6</a>. "Cut down" in <a href='B:50 7:5'>Deu 7:5</a>; <a href='B:50 12:3'>Deu 12:3</a>; <a href='B:140 31:1'>2Ch 31:1</a> later occurs in <a href='B:290 10:33'>Isa 10:33</a>; Jeremiah 48; Jeremiah 25; <a href='B:310 2:3'>Lam 2:3</a>. So Israel faced the choice: either cut down your idols, or you will be cut down in the day of God’s judgment. Those who worshipped idols were like unto them. The stone will either fall on us and destroy us, or we must fall on it and become broken men and women (<a href='B:470 21:44'>Mat 21:44</a>). For the man untouched by the concept of living for God’s glory, it’s a hard choice.</p>


text:
<p>Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city, the deserters also who fell away to him, and the residue of the people who remained- The "remnant" is the remainder of those who had not died from the sword, famine or plague. But there was a large element of "the poor of the people" (:10) who remained.</p>


text:
<h4>But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time- The majority of the population remained, because they were those who had nothing and were abused by the wealthy minority; and they received their vineyards and fields. They did well out of the Babylonian invasion; and that was Babylonian policy, to deport only the leadership and ingratiate themselves to the poor masses, in the hope they would thereby have their loyalty.</h4><h4>It needs to be noted that poverty has a way of distracting, terribly so. Merely giving aid to the poor won’t automatically make converts- true converts. It’s simply not true that desperately poor people will somehow respond better than others to the Gospel. The Jews left in the land at the time of the exile were the very poorest. But actually these were the spiritually weaker in the long run, and it was the more wealthy who went to Babylon who were the “good figs” of <a href='B:300 24:3-8'>Jer 24:3-8</a>.</h4>


text:
<p>Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon commanded Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard concerning Jeremiah saying- Nebuchadnezzar was then at Hamath, Antioch on the Orontes. He would have heard about Jeremiah from the Jews who had already defected in response to Jeremiah’s prophecies, and they would have told him of Jeremiah’s prophecies; which was why he was well disposed toward Jeremiah, perhaps ignorant of or choosing to ignore the other prophecies about Babylon’s destruction.</p>


text:
<p>Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do to him even as he shall tell you- ’To set the eyes upon for good’ (Heb:), "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.</p>


text:
<p>So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushazban, Rabsaris, Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon- The top brass of Babylon were all involved in this singular mission- to locate and do well to this individual called Jeremiah. Such was God’s deep desire to reward and care for Jeremiah.</p>


text:
<p>they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son ofAhikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he lived among the people- But initially Jeremiah was taken captive in chains (<a href='B:300 40:1'>Jer 40:1</a>), perhaps in the confusion which arose after the sacking of Jerusalem. He was released from those chains and given the best treatment, given a place in the house of Gedaliah whom the Babylonians had appointed governor. But Jeremiah had a heart for people, wanting only to minister God’s word to them. Even that relatively luxurious position is described according to how Jeremiah perceived it- he lived "among the people". And this of course is an example to us, wherever our lot be cast.</p>


text:
<p>Now the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying- This is the word that had come to Jeremiah previously. The book of Jeremiah isn’t chronological, but arranged by theme. Here the theme is that God wonderfully preserved Jeremiah because of his faithfulness; and He did the same for Ebedmelech.</p>


text:
<p>Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian saying, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring My words on this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished before you in that day- Jeremiah was "shut up" in prison (:15); so ’going’ is used in the figurative sense, as a metaphor to describe taking the Gospel to someone, even if we are confined to our bed. See more examples of this noted on <a href='B:670 3:19'>1Pe 3:19</a>.</p>


text:
<p>But I will deliver you in that day, says Yahweh; and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid- To march into the prison with 30 men and rescue Jeremiah from the dungeon of death was nothing less than staging a jail break. Ebedmelech showed huge faith and devotion in doing this, and naturally feared for his life afterwards. His deliverance from the Jews was to encourage him that like Jeremiah, his life would be saved from the Babylonians too. "You shall not be given::." is just what Zedekiah had been encouraged- if he had repented (<a href='B:300 38:20'>Jer 38:20</a>). He likewise was "afraid of::. men", the same Jewish princes who were out to kill Ebedmelech. We see here the thematic nature of the book of Jeremiah. God worked in the same way in parallel lives, and some accepted His promises and others didn’t.</p>


text:
<p>For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be for a prey to you; because you have put your trust in me, says Yahweh- His life would be to him "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. LXX "and you shall find your life" is alluded to in the Lord’s promise that he who loses his life [or risks losing it] for the Lord’s sake shall find it (<a href='B:470 10:39'>Mat 10:39</a>; <a href='B:470 16:25'>Mat 16:25</a>). The reward for Ebedmelech was not just that he would save his physical life, but that he would find his true life. He thereby stands representative of us all.</p>


text:
<h4>The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh- There is no prophetic revelation for some time in the passage, as the following historical summary was required to give context to it.</h4><h4>After Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon- As explained on <a href='B:300 39:14'>Jer 39:14</a>, initially Jeremiah was taken captive in chains, perhaps in the confusion which arose after the sacking of Jerusalem; despite the specific command of none less than Nebuchadnezzar to give him special care and honour. He was released from those chains and given the best treatment, given a place in the house of Gedaliah whom the Babylonians had appointed governor. But Jeremiah had a heart for people, wanting only to minister God’s word to them. Even that relatively luxurious position is described according to how Jeremiah perceived it- he lived "among the people" (<a href='B:300 39:14'>Jer 39:14</a>). And this of course is an example to us, wherever our lot be cast. Perhaps Jeremiah went through this brief experience of being bound in chains so that he, like the Lord Jesus, could experience the condemnation of his people despite being personally innocent.</h4>


text:
<p>The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, Yahweh your God pronounced this evil on this place- The captain knew this because Jeremiah’s prophetic words had been published and were well known. This is to Jeremiah’s credit; that he didn’t just keep his unpopular message to himself.</p>


text:
<p>and Yahweh has brought it, and done according as He spoke: because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come on you- As noted on :2, Jeremiah’s earlier words had been well distributed. We note that Nebuzaradan uses the covenant Name of Yahweh. As intended, the whole tragedy was used to magnify God’s Name and word amongst the Gentiles. People at that time understood a tribal god as always defending his own city. But this man understood that Yahweh was not such a tribal god; He brought judgment against His own people because He had a moral agenda, and was deeply sensitive to sin against Him. At that time, the whole concept of sin as a felt offence against a deity was unheard of:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h4>Now, behold, I release you this day from the chains which are on your hand- Jeremiah was representative of Judah; they too could have been loosed from their chains if they had repented and adopted God’s perspective as Jeremiah did. Jeremiah was to be their pattern.</h4><p>If it seems good to you to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will take care of you; but if it seems bad to you to come with me into Babylon, don’t- ’To set the eyes upon for good’ (Heb:), "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.</p><h4>Behold, all the land is before you; where it seems good and right to you to go, there go- This is the language of Israel entering the land (<a href='B:50 3:18'>Deu 3:18</a> etc:). Again, Jeremiah was the representative of Judah and the living example of what could have been, and what could yet be for them.</h4>


text:
<p>If you remain, then return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever you think it right to go. So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present, and let him go- We are sometimes given such great freedom of choice, in order that we might have a chance to search our motives and do that which we "think right". Jeremiah’s response is a stellar example to us. He chose to suffer affliction with God’s people rather than seek his own security and prosperity in Babylon. Sometimes there are no morally wrong choices before us; but what is required is the right motivation for the choices we make. To have gone to Babylon and worked on bringing about the fulfillment of the "good figs" prophecy would surely have been legitimate. Instead Jeremiah chose to remain with the condemned, the "evil figs" who would not respond::. in the hope they would somehow respond. He chose to "dwell among the people".</p>


text:
<p>Then went Jeremiah to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land- It is repeatedly emphasized that Jeremiah "lived::. among the people". Even though he lived in Gedaliah’s house in relatively luxury, his living is described according to how Jeremiah perceived it- he lived "among the people" (also :1; <a href='B:300 39:14'>Jer 39:14</a>). And this of course is an example to us, wherever our lot be cast.</p>


text:
<p>Now when all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, and women, and children, and of the poorest of the land, of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon- The existence of surviving Jewish military units indicates that the total destruction of Judah as intimated in Jeremiah’s earlier prophecies didn’t totally come about. In wrath God remembered mercy; or perhaps the mediation and repentance of a minority led to Him ameliorating His judgments. That is a theme of all his prophecies.</p>


text:
<p>then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men- Ishmael was later to murder Gedaliah, considering that he was the rightful king of Judah. It seems he had taken refuge with Baalis king of the Ammonites during the Babylonian invasion (:14).</p>


text:
<h4>Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men saying, Don’t be afraid to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon- Gedaliah was advocating the earlier appeal of Jeremiah; if the people accepted they had sinned and willingly accepted the judgment for it, servitude of their enemies, then all would be well for them. They were not to fear the Babylonians; the LXX and <a href='B:120 25:24'>2Ki 25:24</a> say that they were not to fear “because of the servants of the Chaldeans”, referring to the various Babylonian garrisons now stationed throughout the land.</h4><h4>And it shall be well with you- "Amend" in the earlier appeals for repentance (e:g. <a href='B:300 7:5'>Jer 7:5</a>) is the word here translated ’to do well to’. If they amended their ways, God would amend or change His plans of judgment. Here we behold the openness of God, His deep sensitivity to human repentance and change.</h4>


text:
<h4>As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who shall come to us- Gedaliah like any true leader was leading the way by example; living in the land and serving the Chaldeans, as he had advised others to do.</h4><h4>But you, gather grapes and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken- There had been a sudden reversal of everything. The abused majority had now been given the wealth and cities of the wealthy minority who had abused them. Dwelling in the cities taken suggests again the inheritance of the land after the exodus. There was really the possibility of a new start. The harvest had not been harvested by the wealthy, and so the poor took it for themselves:&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4>


text:
<p>Likewise when all the Jews who were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan- This dwelling of Israel’s outcasts with Moab, Edom and Ammon was a repeat of what had happened during the previous Assyrian invasion (<a href='B:290 16:4'>Isa 16:4</a>). There were the same possibilities- of a miraculous Divine intervention and salvation.</p>


text:
<p>then all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah to Gedaliah, to Mizpah, and gathered grapes and summer fruits very much- As explained on :10, this was the harvest not gathered by the wealthy minority, due to the war. Again we see similarities with the entrance of Israel into the land, where they possessed cities and ate harvest which they had not planted. It seems there was the possibility of some restoration of the Kingdom of God in Israel through these who returned from where they had fled. <a href='B:300 8:20'>Jer 8:20</a> uses the same term to describe how the summer fruits had ended as a result of Divine judgment; but apparently the summer fruits had returned.</p>


text:
<p>Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah- Ishmael had presumably tried to get them to join in his plan of killing Gedaliah (:14); but Johanan and the other army commanders had refused to participate in the plot. Presumably they were of a mind to be obedient to Gedaliah’s example of submitting to&nbsp; Nebuchadnezzar as Yahweh’s servant, as a form of submission to Yahweh. This would have been especially difficult for military men who had been resisting the Babylonians. And yet it seems that they were willing to do this; otherwise they would have sided with Ishmael’s desperate bid for independence from Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>and said to him, Do you know that Baalis the king of the children of Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam didn’t believe them- The king of Ammon may have been personally against Jeremiah after hearing his prophecies about Ammon of <a href='B:300 27:3'>Jer 27:3</a>, and the demand that Ammon submit to Babylon and thence to Yahweh God of Israel. He therefore was against Gedaliah, who clearly was acting in obedience to Jeremiah’s prophecies by submitting to Babylon (understanding Nebuchadnezzar as Yahweh’s servant) as a form of submission to Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly saying, Please let me go, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: why should he take your life, that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish?- Johanan thought that Ishmael’s plan would lead to Babylonian vengeance to the point of them slaying all who remained in Judah. This is indeed the language of some of Jeremiah’s prophecies; and yet this never happened, because in wrath God remembered mercy; or perhaps the mediation and repentance of a minority led to Him ameliorating His judgments. Ishmael did kill Gedaliah, and some of the Babylonians with him. And yet this total destruction of all Judah never happened; another testament to God’s desperate grace and saving love toward His people.</p>


text:
<p>But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, You shall not do this thing; for you speak falsely of Ishmael- Ishmael was from the royal family (<a href='B:300 41:1'>Jer 41:1</a>), and therefore assumed that he ought to be the rightful ruler of Judah rather than Gedaliah, who was but a willing puppet of Babylon. But it was not then the time to restore the Kingdom and throne of David, and certainly not in the form of someone as deceitful as Ishmael. Ishmael clearly disbelieved the prophecies concerning the ending of the royal family. Perhaps Gedaliah’s willing naivety about Ishmael was because he could not entertain any plan to slay a member of the royal family, remembering David’s attitude to Saul.</p>


text:
<h4>Now it happened in the seventh month- Three months after the capture and two after the burning of the city.</h4><h4>That Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal and one of the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they ate bread together in Mizpah- Ishmael was from the royal family, and therefore assumed that he ought to be the rightful ruler of Judah rather than Gedaliah, who was but a willing puppet of Babylon. But it was not then the time to restore the Kingdom and throne of David, and certainly not in the form of someone as deceitful as Ishmael. Ishmael clearly disbelieved the prophecies concerning the ending of the royal family. Perhaps Gedaliah’s willing naivety about Ishmael in <a href='B:300 40:16'>Jer 40:16</a> was because he could not entertain any plan to slay a member of the royal family, rememberingDavid’s attitude to Saul.</h4>


text:
<p>Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land- They failed to accept that Nebuchadnezzar was Yahweh’s servant, doing His will, and therefore the appointment of Gedaliah was also sanctioned by God. Perhaps their game plan was that Baalis of Ammon would take over Judah, and Ishmael would be made the ruler (<a href='B:300 40:14'>Jer 40:14</a>). People will commit murder and any manner of sin for the sake of dreams of power.</p>


text:
<p>Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with him, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war- If Ishmael truly wished to do the best for Judah by becoming their ruler, he surely would not have killed his fellow Jews. But he did so because he was working for the king of Ammon and was following his agenda, in hope of personal benefit and power thereby; see on :2.</p>


text:
<p>It happened the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, and no man knew it- This perhaps was why he killed all the Jews and Babylonians present (:3); to delay the spreading of the news, and to enable himself to carry out the plans of the king of Ammon and establish his own power.</p>


text:
<p>That there came men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with meal offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the house of Yahweh- This could mean that a shrine had been erected in Mizpeh. Or it could refer to 80 people coming to offer offerings and perform some kind of worship at the site of the Jerusalem temple even after the Babylonian destruction. Significantly, they were from the decimated ten tribe kingdom of Israel. Clearly even amongst them, a minority were still relatively faithful; contrasting with Judah’s boast that they alone were faithful and God had rejected Israel. There’s ample historical reference to the essential ground plan and some structure still standing even after the Babylonians had effectively destroyed it and rendered it useless (See R:S. Foster, The Restoration Of Israel (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1970) p. 28; John Bright, A History of Israel (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1981) p. 325; Martin Noth, The History of Israel (London: SCM, 1983) p. 291). This makes it more appealing to consider Ezekiel’s vision as a blueprint for the exiles’ reconstructing the existing temple, rather than a totally new structure. We also must compare this fact against the prophecies in Jeremiah and Ezekiel which speak of total destruction of man, beast and everything in the land. That didn’t happen to the extent envisaged. Perhaps God in pity simply didn’t carry out all His intended wrath. Or maybe there was a modicum of repentance or intercession which ameliorated His plans. Or perhaps He realized that the intended judgments would not in fact bring about the repentance envisaged at the time, and therefore the full extent of those judgments has been rescheduled and reapplied to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it happened, as he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam- This weeping was presumably in pretence grief at the loss of the temple, encouraging them to think that he like they (see on :5) were loyal to Yahweh worship. Perhaps it was their loyalty to Yahweh worship which was his motive for enticing them to come to Mizpah and murdering them; see on :5. We wonder what other motive he may have had.</p>


text:
<p>It was so that when they came into the midst of the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men who were with him- There is an ongoing theme of pits. Jeremiah was cast into the pit; and yet was miraculously saved. It’s as if that experience was to connect him with the experiences of the suffering faithful, making him look forward the more to the Lord Jesus as the representative Saviour.</p>


text:
<p>But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, Don’t kill us; for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, barley, oil and honey. So he stopped, and didn’t kill them among their brothers- These signs of material wealth would have been as the treasure hid in a field. They would have given Ishmael the details of how to find them, or perhaps the keys to the pits. We see here his materialism, crude and plain. There is a strange theme of pits- faithful men were cast into them (see on :7), whilst the unfaithful filled them with their own wealth.</p>


text:
<p>Now the cistern in which Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had killed along with Gedaliah was the same which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were killed- This connection is perhaps because of the continued theme of civil war between God’s people. The men killed by the would be leader of Judah were from the ten tribe kingdom (see on :5). Asa king of Judah had made this pit at the time of his war with Baasha king of the ten tribes.</p>


text:
<p>Then Ishmael carried away captive all the remainder of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters, and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the children of Ammon- The daughters of Zedekiah were high value captives and would have been high on the list for deportation. The fact they were allowed to remain in the land was another sign of Yahweh’s grace; but that grace was spurned and abused by Ishmael in that he tried to take them out of the land, to Ammon.</p>


text:
<p>But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done- These militarycommanders were committed to taking Jeremiah’s advice and surrendering to Babylon, in recognition of their personal sins against Yahweh and the rightness of the Babylonian domination. What Ishmael had done appeared to totally destroy the potential to do that, as they would have assumed the Babylonians would now kill them and the possibility of such surrender and repentance was now impossible. Hence their great anger with Ishmael.</p>


text:
<p>Then they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon- This was only a mile north of Mizpah. the "pool of Gibeon" of <a href='B:100 2:13'>2Sa 2:13</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Now it happened that when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad- Again we see the power of influence of just one man. Those with him realized the folly of his actions and were glad to see the opposition to them.</p>


text:
<p>So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and returned and went to Johanan the son of Kareah- Again a play is made upon the words for repentance, turning around and turning back to God.</p>


text:
<p>But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the children of Ammon- We wonder if those eight men were in fact Ammonites, as Ishmael appears to have been an agent of the king of Ammon, hoping to use him in order to establish himself as some kind of ruler of Judah.</p>


text:
<p>Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon- These women were the daughters of the king; they were high value captives, along with the military leaders and eunuchs, the former leadership. They had been preserved in the land by grace, rather than being taken captive to Babylon. To leave the land was therefore a denial of that grace.</p>


text:
<p>And they departed, and lived in Geruth Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt- Or, the sheepfolds of Chimham. They ought not to have even though of going into Egypt, but should have trusted Yahweh’s further grace to be shown to them, despite the foolish provocation of the Babylonians by Ishmael; see on :16; <a href='B:300 42:2'>Jer 42:2</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land- Jeremiah was to assure them that in fact God’s grace would continue to them through the grace of Nebuchadnezzar; he would not take revenge by slaying all Judah as they feared (<a href='B:300 42:12'>Jer 42:12</a>). Fear is so often based upon lack of faith; and such fear can become gripping and all consuming. This fear of certain revenge proving unfounded, by God’s grace, is what Jacob learnt after his sons pillaged Shechem. The surrounding tribes did not attack and destroy him, as he had thought would inevitably follow.</p>


text:
<p>Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near- These people appeared to have had faith and spirituality, enough to intend surrendering to the Babylonians in recognition of their sins; see on <a href='B:300 41:11'>Jer 41:11</a>. And yet now they lost their faith in saving grace; they thought grace surely couldn’t extend this far, in preserving them from the Babylonians whom Ishmael had so provoked by killing some of their soldiers along with Gedaliah, their appointed ruler of the land. This ability to believe in Divine grace only so far::. is typical of our struggles too.</p>


text:
<p>And said to Jeremiah the prophet, Please let our supplication be presented before you, and pray for us to Yahweh your God, even for all this remnant; for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes do see us- They asked for prayers and direction, but they were already assembled and prepared to go to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians whom Ishmael had so foolishly offended (<a href='B:300 41:17'>Jer 41:17</a>). We too can pray and yet already have our mind made up as to what we shall do. We likewise note the human desire to ask someone else to pray for us. There is something within us which makes us shy away from the possibility of real personal engagement with God Almighty; we would prefer some system of religion, someone else to pray for me::. rather than engage directly with Him.</p>


text:
<p>That Yahweh your God may show us the way in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do- As noted on :2, they had already decided that the way they should walk was to Egypt. Any other possibility seemed to them to risk certain death or captivity. We too can rule out any options apart from those we see immediately before us, and faith is about accepting those other options when they are presented by the Father. "The way in which we should walk" is the repeated phrase used of Israel’s exodus from Egypt (<a href='B:50 1:31'>Deu 1:31</a>; <a href='B:50 1:33'>Deu 1:33</a>; <a href='B:50 8:2'>Deu 8:2</a> etc:). Likewise the request to be shown what they should do or "make" is framed in terms of the instructions given Israel in the desert (<a href='B:20 18:20'>Exo 18:20</a>). But the crucial difference in their case was that they were seeking to return to Egypt; whereas the way Israel had been shown had been out of Egypt. We too can quote Biblical precedent but get it all so wrong, as we are simply using those ideas to justify our own path.</p>


text:
<p>Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray to Yahweh your God according to your words; and it shall happen that whatever thing Yahweh shall answer you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back from you- We pass through one experience to prepare us for another. He had tempted not to reveal everything to Zedekiah; but here he likewise must hide or "keepback" nothing. The message he had for them was to be directly opposed to what they were expecting and wanting to hear. Earlier he had been forbidden to pray for the people; and yet now he is confident that his prayer will be answered. But the idea may have been not to pray in an intercessory sense.</p>


text:
<p>Then they said to Jeremiah, Yahweh be a true and faithful witness among us, if we don’t do according to all the word with which Yahweh your God shall send you to us- The implication was that if God was to reveal something to them through His word, then it was axiomatic that they must do accordingly. God i a witness over His word, as Jeremiah’s prophecy began by pointing out. Our interaction with His word is likewise monitored; it can be no academic study or amassing of information. We are to live accordingly.</p>


text:
<p>Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of Yahweh our God to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of Yahweh our God- The Jews left in the land after the Babylonian invasion begged Jeremiah to tell them God’s word: "Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord" (<a href='B:300 42:5-6'>Jer 42:5-6</a>). But when they heard His words, their response was: "As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth" (<a href='B:300 44:16-17'>Jer 44:16-17</a>). Their apparent zeal for Bible study came to nothing when the results were inconvenient to them (and we can take a lesson from this). But I wonder whether they actually said "We will certainly do whatsoever goeth forth out of our mouth"? Maybe they did; but perhaps this is what their rejection of God’s word was tantamount to, and therefore this is the way their words are recorded.</p>


text:
<p>It happened that after ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah- God tells Jeremiah not to pray for them as He won’t hear him; but then Jeremiah does pray and God hears and changes His mind as a result of this (<a href='B:300 42:7'>Jer 42:7</a>; <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>). The ten day period was perhaps to help them prepare themselves for the unpopular message. As the days went by, their natural reaction would have been to get going for Egypt as soon as possible, given their fear of Babylonian revenge for the murders committed by Ishmael. The delayed response was therefore to get them used to the idea of remaining in the land.</p>


text:
<p>Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest- "Johanan" means ’God’s grace’, but he seems not to have believed that grace could extend so far as saving him from the offended Babylonians. Jeremiah called all the people, because he felt that remaining in the land was connected with their salvation; he didn’t want any decisions made merely by the leadership, but for all individually to make their choices.</p>


text:
<p>And said to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him- The people had presented a supplication to Jeremiah (the same words are used in :2), but Jeremiah stresses that the supplication has been presented before God. They perhaps really wanted Jeremiah’s blessing on their proposed migration to Egypt; whereas Jeremiah was reminding them that their requests had really been taken by him before the presence of Almighty God. The wonder of prayer can easily be lost upon us. The same term is also found in <a href='B:300 36:7'>Jer 36:7</a>, where the hope was that the people would "present their supplication before Yahweh and repent". But they were instead asking Him if they could run away to Egypt. The personal sense of repentance and confession just wasn’t there.</p>


text:
<h4>If you will still live in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I grieve over the distress that I have brought on you- 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>). They who remained in the land were the "evil figs" of Jeremiah 24; but God was prepared to act differently, so eager was He to reestablish the Kingdom.</h4><h4>If Judah had remained in the land and not fled to Egypt, God would have repented of the evil He had promised, and would there and then have restored the land and rebuilt Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a> cp. <a href='B:450 6:15'>Zec 6:15</a>); the whole restoration from Babylon would never have happened. But Israel would not. And yet the whole restoration exercise, as it happened, brought glory to God through the faith and spirituality of men like Ezra and Nehemiah. Behold once again ‘Divine ecology’. God was prepared to relent (<a href='B:300 8:8'>Jer 8:8</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>Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; don’t be afraid of him, says Yahweh: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand- "Don’t be afraid of the face of::." (Heb:) uses the very same words that were used to encourage Jeremiah to resist and not fear his opponents. As he had overcome all the faces of his opponents through obedience to God’s word, so all Judah could have followed Jeremiah’s personal example. This is indeed how the preacher must be; the word is to become flesh in us. As Jeremiah was not afraid before the faces of opponents, so Judah were to be like him before the Babylonians. See on <a href='B:300 41:17-18'>Jer 41:17-18</a>. Although they were the "evil figs" of Jeremiah 24, God sought to assure them of His change of plan concerning them; "I [Yahweh] am with you to save you" is very much the idea of Yehoshua, Jesus, Yahweh is our Saviour. Just as He had caused the surrounding tribes not to destroy Jacob after the pillaging of Shechem, so He would preserve Judah from the revenge of the Babylonians for the foolishness of Ishmael.</p>


text:
<p>I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you, and cause you to return to your own land- The experience of God’s grace, mercy and acceptance was to be reflected through the king of Babylon choosing likewise not to take vengeance upon them, when he legitimately could have done so, after what Ishmael had done. We see here the struggle to believe in grace and mercy which is the root reason for the Gospel’s rejection by men. The king would have caused them to return from where they were then located, perhaps already well on the way to Egypt, back to their own land.</p>


text:
<p>But if you say, We will not dwell in this land; so that you don’t obey the voice of Yahweh your God- Those who don’t want to be in God’s Kingdom won’t be; and all those who love the Lord’s appearing will be accepted by Him. By refusing to dwell in the land, they were disobeying God’ saving purpose; and so they would not be in God’s Kingdom and would be condemned (:16).</p>


text:
<p>Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell- Jeremiah knew this was what they were thinking, and so did God. The choice of Egypt / the world is often made on the basis of unproven assumptions and images in the mind- e:g. that there, they would not lack bread and would not be at risk of war. These assumptions were and are so often false.</p>


text:
<p>Now therefore hear the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah: Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, If you indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to live there- They had set their faces, hardened themselves psychologically, and therefore their request for God’s word of guidance about their migration was inappropriate. And worse, they had set their faces against the will and intention of God for them. This is the difficulty of being truly humble before God’s word; resigning all we once had hoped or assumed to be true, all our natural value systems and assumptions::. before His, as they are expressed in His word.</p>


text:
<p>Then it shall happen, that the sword which you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are afraid, shall follow close behind you there in Egypt; and there you shall die- As noted on :14, they were assuming that they would be free from famine and fear of war in Egypt. But this was not at all to be the case. The sword and famine destroying them in the land of Judah had been threatened them for their sins; they were only alive by grace. And yet they thought that by fleeing to Egypt they could escape their first condemnation, and not be judged by sword or famine. The grace available to them was that they could stay in the land of Judah and not experience the promised judgments. By fleeing to another land, there was no such guarantee. The truth was that they were not truly repentant, not really awed by God’s grace, and loved Egypt / the world far more than the things of God’s Kingdom.</p>


text:
<p>So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live there: they shall die by the sword, by the famine and by the plague; and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring n them- As explained on :16, sword, famine and plague were the judgments upon Judah for their sin. Those judgments would be lifted if they remained in the land to allow God’s grace to work further and prepare them to be part of His restored Kingdom. But running off to Egypt was simply opting out of&nbsp; God’s program, thinking that the world / Egypt could save them from the judgments which they deserved. Egypt had been demonstrated as unable to help them during the time of the Babylonian siege; but such mental habits and tendencies to always trust in Egypt were hard to break.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: As My anger and My wrath has been poured forth on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall My wrath be poured forth on you, when you shall enter into Egypt; and you shall be an object of horror and an astonishment, a curse and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more- They themselves had been inhabitants of Jerusalem; for the group included the eunuchs and the king’s daughters. They ought to have partaken in the pouring out of wrath upon Jerusalem; they had only not experienced it by God’s grace. They therefore ought to obey Him now that He tells them where to be and where to remain in order to further avoid judgment. But the grace in saving them was apparently in vain, because they still sought salvation in Egypt and not Yahweh. God’s wrath was only not poured upon Jerusalem because they had shown some humility (cp. <a href='B:140 12:7'>2Ch 12:7</a>); but now they were hardening themselves in their assumptions about salvation in Egypt just had to be right.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah, Don’t you go into Egypt: know certainly that I have testified to you this day- Going into Egypt has nearly always been a bad move by God’s children; they were expected to perceive those precedents from history. God’s plan with them was clear and not open to interpretation- they were not to go into Egypt, not to do that which was the natural reaction and which seemed the logical path.</p>


text:
<p>For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls; for you sent me to Yahweh your God saying, Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it- "Dealt deceitfully" is a phrase nearly always used in the prophets about the effect of false teachers and idols deceiving the people (<a href='B:300 23:13'>Jer 23:13</a>; <a href='B:300 23:32'>Jer 23:32</a>; <a href='B:300 50:6'>Jer 50:6</a>; <a href='B:330 14:11'>Eze 14:11</a> etc:). It could be that they had other prophets, false ones, telling them to go to Egypt; and they wished for the "OK" from Yahweh as well. Perhaps that was all their approach to Jeremiah amounted to.</p>


text:
<p>and I have this day declared it to you; but you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh your God in anything for which He has sent me to you- Their disobedience is not recorded here, but is found in Jeremiah 44.</p>


text:
<p>Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where you desire to go to live there- The judgment of Jerusalem by sword, famine and plague had been ameliorated, by grace; these people had avoided it. But their refusal of grace and the Divine plan of salvation meant that they would have to experience it, and this therefore was to happen to them in Egypt. The Babylonian invasion of Egypt brought it about. The simple lesson is that no attempt to avoid God’s judgments can ever work out. It is for us to repent and accept our worthiness of them, rather than cleverly seek to avoid them.</p>


text:
<p>It happened that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, with which Yahweh their God had sent him to them, even all these words- The response of the people was immediate; they allowed themselves no time to meditate, but just followed their gut reaction of not accepting God’s message because it was not what they wanted to hear.</p>


text:
<p>then spoke Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying to Jeremiah, You speak falsely: Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, You shall not go into Egypt to live there- As explained through Jeremiah 42. these people had set their hearts and faces on going to Egypt, and their enquiry of Yahweh was simply seeking His confirmation of their own hunches and desires. When they didn’t receive this, they sought to get out of things by simply denying Jeremiah’s Divine inspiration. Naturally this begs the question as to why they had asked for Yahweh’s word through him, if they considered him uninspired. We see here the root reason why people disbelieve the Bible as Divinely inspired- it interferes too much with their own preferred way of life and thought.</p>


text:
<p>but Baruch the son of Neriah sets you on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon- Baruch was Jeremiah’s secretary, so maybe they were implying that these words had been written by Baruch but had not actually come from Jeremiah himself. This is typical of how those who don’t want to accept God’s word will try to find all manner of problems with the mechanism of inspiration; when the root issue is their refusal to accept any Divine word which goesagainst their own gut desires.</p>


text:
<p>So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, didn’t obey the voice of Yahweh, to dwell in the land of Judah- They of course had denied the inspiration of Jeremiah to the point that they considered these words just the uninspired words of Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary. But the reality was that they were being disobedient to nothing less than the "voice of Yahweh".</p>


text:
<p>But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah, who were returned from all the nations where they had been driven, to live in the land of Judah- These people had been restored to the land as some kind of incipient fulfillment of the prophecies of restoration. To take them off from the land to Egypt was to disallow that potential restoration of "the remnant of Judah".</p>


text:
<p>the men, and the women, and the children, and the king’s daughters, and every person who Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah- Jeremiah and his secretary Baruch surely could have refused to move to Egypt. Jeremiah had been offered a luxury retirement in Babylon, underwritten by none less than the king of Babylon personally. But he died in poverty and perhaps of famine, without any respect, in Egypt::. just because of his huge devotion to God’s apostate people, willing to try to bring restoration even to the condemned::. even at the cost of his own life and happiness.</p>


text:
<p>and they came into the land of Egypt; for they didn’t obey the voice of Yahweh: and they came to Tahpanhes-&nbsp;This was a border town, whose inhabitants had not been kind of Judah previously (<a href='B:300 2:16'>Jer 2:16</a>).</p>


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<p>Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying- This was as it were one last appeal before the people officially entered into Egypt; for Tahpanhes was the border.</p>


text:
<p>Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in mortar in the brick work, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah- This would only have been possible if the palace was crumbling; which would have served to warn them of the waning power of Pharaoh.</p>


text:
<h4>and tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon- This would have been by Angelic action. 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>).</h4><h4>My servant- Judah liked to imagine that they were the "servant of Yahweh" spoken of in Isaiah’s recent prophecies. But this didn’t make them God’s people and therefore inviolate from judgment. Nebuchadnezzar was also Yahweh’s servant but would be judged for his actions.</h4><h4>And will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them- They would not escape the King of Babylon; he would spread his pavilion over the stones hidden in the palace of Pharaoh at Tahpanhes.</h4>


text:
<p>He shall come, and shall strike the land of Egypt; such as are for death shall be put to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword- This is a quotation from <a href='B:300 15:2'>Jer 15:2</a>. This is what could have happened had they received their judgment in Jerusalem. By grace they were spared that, and then by grace again, they would have been spared it at the hands of the Babylonians who were tempted to revenge the murders performed by Ishmael. But since they were ungrateful for that great grace shown, then those judgments would catch up with them. Fleeing to Egypt would not save from Divine judgment; only repentantly casting themselves in humility upon His grace would do so.</p>


text:
<h4>I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captive: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment- When refugees arrive in a host country, totally at the peoples’ mercy, they scarcely start condemning the people. But Jeremiah had to inform Egypt that Nebuchadnezzar would soon "pick clean the land of Egypt like a shepherd picking lice from his clothing and then depart unmolested" (<a href='B:300 43:12'>Jer 43:12</a>). Our position with this world, and our message to it, is no different in essence. See on <a href='B:300 51:59'>Jer 51:59</a>.</h4><p>And he shall go forth from there in peace- This 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 (see on Jer 297).</p><h4><a href='B:300 43:13'>Jer 43:13</a> He shall also break the pillars of Beth Shemesh that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire- Beth Shemesh is ’house of the sun’ and probably refers to Heliopolis, which has the same meaning. "The pillars" refer to an avenue of obelisks in front of the temple erected by Thothmes III (BC 1500), one of which remain, and the other is “Cleopatra’s Needle,” placed on the Thames Embankment in London in 1878.</h4>


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<p>The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who lived in the land of Egypt, who lived at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis and in the country of Pathros, saying- The Jews may well have gone to live with other Jews who had settled there previously. Most of these places [excluding Pathros] were near the border with Judah, as if they were looking to return to Judah once things had stabilized. Woe had already been declared upon these towns where the disobedient Jews went to live after the Babylonian invasion of Judah; from the prophecy of <a href='B:300 46:14'>Jer 46:14</a>, they ought to have already been aware of what Jeremiah declared to them- that even there in Egypt, the Babylonians would come and judge them.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwells therein- That evil came because of their idolatry; and yet they had fled to Egypt and were continuing in such idolatry (:8). Their attitude was therefore that it was good fortune that they had avoided the judgments for idolatry; and they were eagerly carrying on with it. They refused to see that God’s grace was trying to lead them to repentance; and that judgment for sin will fall, regardless of where on the globe one is situated.</p>


text:
<p>because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods that they didn’t know, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers- Not only is the logic of choosing God’s way so powerful, but the way of the flesh is not satisfying. Sin became a weariness to Israel even before they reaped the punishment for it (<a href='B:290 57:10'>Isa 57:10</a>); their mind was alienated from the lovers they chose; they left the one they left the God of Israel for (<a href='B:330 23:17'>Eze 23:17</a>). They always wanted new gods; they were never satisfied with their idols. And it seems that now the same was happening; they were looking to adopt new gods they had found in Egypt.</p>


text:
<p>However I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them saying, Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate!- 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.</p>


text:
<p>But they didn’t listen nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods- 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.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore My wrath and My anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; andthey are wasted and desolate, as it is this day-&nbsp; They had failed to recognize that God is serious about judging sin; they thought that because they had so far escaped that judgment therefore it would not come. Distance was no object to God; the fact they were in Egypt didn’t mean they were hidden from Him or that judgment could only come or happen whilst they were communicant members of the temple cult in Jerusalem. Judgment will come- and resignation from a church or from God in toto , moving out of the area::. will not stop judgment coming.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore now thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel: Why do you commit great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child out of the midst of Judah, to leave yourselves none remaining- Their sin was against their own souls. Likewise 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 of Yahweh’s condemnation (<a href='B:300 17:4'>Jer 17:4</a>). 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>).</p>


text:
<p>in that you provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live; that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?- The Jews considered that they had as it were resigned from Yahweh, so they were free to worship as they wished. But this wasn’t the case. We cannot resign from Him. They would become a reproach and curse for this, and thus dishonour Yahweh. We note again that the essence of idolatry is a trust in the work of our own hands. This is what makes idolatry an abiding issue in the lives of God’s people.</p>


text:
<p>Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?- We note the emphasis upon the sins of the women (:17,21). In those days, religion was largely a hobby for men, and the women followed their husbands’ religion where and when required. But we see here that the women are held personally accountable; for God values men and women equally, desiring that each person exercise a personal conscience toward Him.</p>


text:
<p>They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in My law, nor in My statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers- To walk in God’s laws was to be the result of their humbled repentance. This is one reason why we have Divine laws- to provide a channel through which we can express that intangible and non-specific love of God which we feel upon repentance.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set My face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah- See on :7. All would be destroyed; but the same chapter speaks of a remnant that would not be (:14,28). This is the Bible paradox of God’s love of Israel and desire for their redemption.</p>


text:
<p>I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt shall they fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine; they shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be an object of horror, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach- This is an allusion to <a href='B:300 15:2'>Jer 15:2</a>. This is what could have happened had they received their judgment in Jerusalem. By grace they were spared that, and then by grace again, they would have been spared it at the hands of the Babylonians who were tempted to revenge the murders performed by Ishmael. But since they were ungrateful for that great grace shown, then those judgments would catch up with them. Fleeing to Egypt would not save from Divine judgment; only repentantly casting themselves in humility upon His grace would do so.</p>


text:
<p>For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague- As noted on :12, their attempt to avoid Divine judgment by living in Egypt was not going to work. There can be a sense that we can resign from everything to do with God’s truth; and live with no sense of judgment to come. These Jews who fled to Egypt are proof that this is not the case. God’s grip is strong upon us and He wishes us for His Kingdom till the day we die.</p>


text:
<p>so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, shall escape or be left to return into the land of Judah, to which they will have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return save such as shallescape- They thought they could forget about the things of Yahweh once they were in Egypt. But they were to face condemnation there, and in their time of condemnation, they desperately wanted to return to their land [cp. the Kingdom]- but it was all too late. Cain is another type of the rejected- instead of going as far away from Divine things as possible after his condemnation, he went to live on the east of Eden- where the cherubim were, guarding the barred entry to God’s paradise (<a href='B:10 4:16'>Gen 4:16</a>). This desire to be in the Kingdom but it being too late is the ’weeping and gnashing of teeth’ the Lord speaks about; a mental torment absolutely self inflicted.</p>


text:
<p>Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah saying- Pathros was in the far south of Egypt, and may have included Jews who had been resident in Egypt for some time. Being so far south, they were confident that Jeremiah’s prophecies that the Babylonians would find them even there would for sure be proved untrue.</p>


text:
<p>As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of Yahweh, we will not listen to you- This is rank disobedience. But they phrase it in terms of there perhaps being a difference between the words of Yahweh and those of Jeremiah. These are the words Jeremiah "(you") had spoken, not from Yahweh but only "in the name of Yahweh". This kind of petty doubting of the process of Divine inspiration is often deployed by those who simply don’t want to accept the demands of His word upon them personally.</p>


text:
<p>But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil- See on :19; <a href='B:300 7:18'>Jer 7:18</a>. The Jews left in the land after the Babylonian invasion begged Jeremiah to tell them God’s word: "Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord" (<a href='B:300 42:5-6'>Jer 42:5-6</a>). But when they heard His words, their response was: "As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth" (<a href='B:300 44:16-17'>Jer 44:16-17</a>). Their apparent zeal for Bible study came to nothing when the results were inconvenient to them (and we can take a lesson from this). But I wonder whether they actually said "We will certainly do whatsoever goeth forth out of our mouth"? Maybe they did; but perhaps this is what their rejection of God’s word was tantamount to, and therefore this is the way their words are recorded.</p>


text:
<p>But since we left off burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine- As noted on <a href='B:300 43:11'>Jer 43:11</a>, the consumption by sword and famine was because they were in Egypt. They had been spared this whilst in the land of Israel. By grace they had been spared death by sword and famine in Jerusalem, and then by grace again, they would have been spared it at the hands of the Babylonians who were tempted to revenge the murders performed by Ishmael. But since they were ungrateful for that great grace shown, then those judgments would catch up with them. Fleeing to Egypt would not save from Divine judgment; only repentantly casting themselves in humility upon His grace would do so. Their complaint that they had received those judgments, finally, in Egypt::. was inappropriate in the extreme.</p>


text:
<p>When we burned incense to the queen of the sky, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?- It was this very behaviour which had brought the Babylonians upon Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 7:18'>Jer 7:18</a>). "The queen of heaven" was a Babylonian fertility god, otherwise called Ishtar, shaped like the moon or the planet Venus. It was the god of female fertility, hence the note that the women and children were a large part of its worship. Each female devotee was expected to sleep with the male cult prostitutes of this cult. And then sacrifice one of their children to it. No wonder this so upset God, seeing that He was the source of Israel’s fertility, and their children were born to Him and not to the supposed queen of heaven. The women later protested that they were impenitent of this worship of the queen of heaven, and they did so with the full blessing of their husbands; this was significant, seeing that the cult involved sleeping with other men and offering their children to Ishtar.</p>


text:
<p>Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying- It is twice emphasized that Jeremiah replied "to all the people". None could claim they had not heard God’s response.</p>


text:
<p>The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, didn’t Yahweh remember it, and didn’t it come into His mind?- There was the idea that God forgot their sin; that that was all back there and back then, but now they had moved to Egypt, all was different. We too can reason the same way, wrongly assuming that time and geography make a pseudo atonement for our sins. God had been hurt deeply by their idolatry, and it continued to come into His mind. Judgment was going to come for it.</p>


text:
<p>So that Yahweh could no longer endure you, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore your land has become a desolation, an astonishment and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day- Yahweh had been bearing their sin ("s:w."endure"), but there came a point where this was no longer appropriate if they were continuing in those sins</p>


text:
<p>Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes, nor in His testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is this day- What was worse was that this group had come to Jeremiah seeking God’s word, and apparently had some interest in obeying it. But there was a willfulness in their sin which made their judgment inevitable. The evil done to the land of Judah"happened to you, as it is this day"; they were wrong to think that by running away to Egypt, they had avoided Divine judgment.</p>


text:
<p>Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt- There is strange emphasis on all the people being addressed, including the women. This reflects God’s inclusive approach, recognizing the women as well as the men were guilty and likewise also capable of repentance. It is not God’s way to punish a majority just for the sins of their leadership; the entire community were addressed and thereby were responsible.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, saying, You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her- Their hands fulfilled what their mouths spoke in that those hands formed the cakes to the queen of heaven, and performed the rituals.</h4><h4>Establish then your vows, and perform your vows-&nbsp; God will confirm people in the path they wish to take both for good and bad, hence we are to pray"lead us not into temptation".</h4>


text:
<p>Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great name, says Yahweh, that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt saying, As the Lord Yahweh lives- This implies that every single Jew in Egypt was to be killed. Such threats of total destruction of every Jew in Judah had been made earlier by the prophets, and yet not carried out in the end because of God’s way of remembering mercy in the midst of wrath. And it was to be the same here; the Assuan papyri show that the Egyptian Jews in the century following were a flourishing community and were worshippers of Yahweh and not idolaters. Perhaps it was this level of turning toward Yahweh which meant that God changed these threatened judgments.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone- The language of total destruction is immediately ameliorated in :28, when we read that some of them would return into Judah.</p>


text:
<p>Those who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, shall know whose word shall stand, Mine, or theirs- This is proof enough that the language of total destruction of all Jews in Egypt was not going to literally happen.</p>


text:
<p>This shall be the sign to you, says Yahweh, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil- Egypt was given into the hand of their enemies so that Judah might learn something from this. We see the condemnation of others in order to warn us. There is a gap between the statement of judgment, and its execution. In that gap we can repent and change the otherwise inevitable outcomes. The propblems of the Pharaoh Hophra (see on :30) were to be a sign to the Jews that the Babylonian judgment would surely come upon them.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life- All that we know of the fate of Hophra is derived from Herodotus (2:169), who states that Amssis"gave Apries over into the hands of his former subjects, to deal with as they chose. Then the Egyptians took him and strangled him".</p>


text:
<p>The message that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying- The reference is to the words written in the roll or scroll of <a href='B:300 36:1'>Jer 36:1</a>. The book of Jeremiah isn’t chronological but thematic; here, the theme which continues from Jeremiah 44 is that of Baruch, who went with Jeremiah to die with the apostate Jews in Egypt.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, to you, Baruch- God’s word to Baruch begins with a quotation from Baruch’s own feelings (:3).</p>


text:
<p>You said, Woe is me now! For Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning and I find no rest- In the historical record of Jeremiah 36, Baruch appears to just do what Jeremiah tells him in writing the record of Jeremiah’s words. But this led him to risk death. The"pain"was how he like Jeremiah felt the pain of the condemned people; but he experienced additional"sorrow", reflected in his restless groaning, perhaps related to fear of imprisonment and death for his work in transcribing the prophecies. The Father was comforting Baruch that He knows human words, even those said quietly in frustration. But even in that ’finding no rest’ he was fellowshipping Israel’s experiences for breaking the covenant, such was his identity with them (s:w. <a href='B:50 28:65'>Deu 28:65</a>).</p>


text:
<p>You shall tell him, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this will be so in the whole land- Jeremiah’s words had the power to break down and pluck up; and indeed the words he had transcribed would come about. There was no way to stop that; the time for changing outcomes had passed.</p>


text:
<p>Do you seek great things for yourself? Don’t seek them; for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh, says Yahweh; but your life will I give to you for a prey in all places where you go- Baruch, the faithful scribe of Jeremiah 36, had to be reminded later to stop seeking great things for himself. His life would be to him"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. Moving to Egypt to live with a condemned group of Jews, with only further suffering to look forward to, meant resigning all material hopes. Clearly Baruch had his eye upon"great things"&nbsp;for himself, and he seems to have been upset that now he was never going to achieve them. But all such material things were to be destroyed in the day of evil upon"all flesh"; the one thing which would survive that was his life. His life, a life with God in it, was what he would salvage; and a life like that is worth losing everything material in order to gain. This is the same promise as made to Ebedmelech in <a href='B:300 39:18'>Jer 39:18</a>. LXX"and you shall find your life"is alluded to in the Lord’s promise that he who loses his life [or risks losing it] for the Lord’s sake shall find it (<a href='B:470 10:39'>Mat 10:39</a>; <a href='B:470 16:25'>Mat 16:25</a>). The reward for Baruch and Ebedmelech was not just that they would save their physical life, but that they would find their true life. They thereby stand representative of us all.</p>


text:
<p>The word of Yahweh which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations- Ezekiel also at this point gave prophecies against Egypt and the surrounding nations. As noted on Ezekiel 29-32, many of the details didn’t come true at that time. The essence will do in the last days. But the prophecies were part of a wider potential scenario in which Judah would repent, as would Israel who were already in captivity; and the nations conquered by Babylon would also come to"know Yahweh", to come into relationship with Him. But this didn’t work out as hoped; and so the application of these prophecies has been transferred and reapplied to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah- The significance of the victory is that it was a sure sign to Judah that their trust upon Egypt was futile; now Egyptian military power had been demonstrated useless. God was, for now, on the side of Babylon; they were His servants, and resistance to them was futile.</p>


text:
<p>Prepare the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle!- This was the cry of"The Egyptian officers"(GNB).</p>


text:
<p>Harness the horses, rise up, you horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail- Egypt is portrayed as replete with all the latest military technology and human strength, all of which was seen by Judah as so attractive, but by God as so abhorrent and meaningless.</p>


text:
<h4>Why have I seen it?- Now we have God’s perspective, how He saw things.""But what do I see?" asks the LORD"(GNB). However, this could be another interjection from Jeremiah, complaining that the visions which he had to preach, about violence and judgment, were quite against the grain of his sensitive soul (<a href='B:300 46:5'>Jer 46:5</a> RV; 47:6). The fact that true preaching is a carrying of the cross explains why Paul felt that the fact that to preach what he did went right against his natural grain, was the proof that indeed a “dispensation of the Gospel” had been given to him. Likewise Jeremiah complained. There is therefore no such person as a natural preacher in the ultimate sense.</h4><h4>They are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down and have fled apace, and don’t look back: terror is on every side, says Yahweh- Although the Egyptians went forward so confidently into battle, God saw them as fleeing in terror.</h4>


text:
<p>Don’t let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen- <a href='B:330 32:31'>Eze 32:31</a> says that Pharaoh would die in this battle. However there is no record of Pharaoh being killed at Carchemish, although the Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle, now housed in the British Museum, claims that Nebuchadnezzar"crossed the river to go against the Egyptian army which lay in Carchemish. They fought with each other and the Egyptian army withdrew before him. He accomplished their defeat, decisively. As for the rest of the Egyptian army which had escaped from the defeat so quickly that no weapon had reached them, in the district of Hamath the Babylonian troops overtook and defeated them so that not a single man escaped to his own country". We would expect a mention of the death of Pharaoh but there is none. And the account of the battle of Carchemish here in <a href='B:300 46:3-12'>Jer 46:3-12</a> doesn’t mention it either. Again we see that the prophetic scenario envisaged didn’t completely come about, although the essence of it will in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Who is this who rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?- This is said in retrospect, seeing that the Egyptians are now"dismayed and turned backward"(:5). They had once been seen as the rising power, risingup as the Nile, and Judah had been attracted by this, rather than trusting in Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he says, I will rise up, I will cover the land; I will destroy cities and its inhabitants- Egypt had its eyes upon dominating the eretz,"the land"promised to Abraham, including Judah. Yet Judah had sought their help against Babylon, refusing to see the obvious- that actually Egypt wanted to dominate them and destroy their cities just as Babylon was to do.</p>


text:
<p>Go up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty ones go forth: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow- These are the mercenaries, from various African countries, who fought for Egypt and are being sent forth. The"mighty ones", horses and chariots are portrayed in these terms to show they are a pathetic imitation of Ezekiel’s cherubim, which could have fought for Judah had they trusted in Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>For that day is of the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself of His adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates- Nebuchadnezzar was Yahweh’s servant, and therefore the adversaries of Babylon were His adversaries; and He would destroy them. Judah’s desperate trust in Egypt was therefore siding with Yahweh’s enemies.</p>


text:
<p>Go up into Gilead and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you- This"daughter"may be that of :19, the daughter"who dwells in Egypt", the Jewish communities in Egypt, who were to be joined by the unfaithful Jews who later joined them under Johanan (see on <a href='B:300 44:1'>Jer 44:1</a>). Gilead’s balm was well known (<a href='B:10 37:25'>Gen 37:25</a>; <a href='B:330 27:17'>Eze 27:17</a>). There was balm and a physician in Gilead which could heal the sick person- but they wouldn’t go to it (<a href='B:300 8:22'>Jer 8:22</a>). The cure had been readily available- but Judah had refused to make use of it.</p>


text:
<h4>The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together- This may refer to the shame of the fact that a far smaller Babylonian army of 18,000 destroyed the Egyptian army of 40,000 at Carchemish."The mighty man"would be they of :9, the mercenaries upon whom Egypt relied.</h4>


text:
<h4>The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt- The language of smiting Egypt is that of the plagues (Exo 3:20; Exo 12:12-13 s:w:). Again there is the implicit hope that as a result of this, there would be a glorious exodus and reentry of the promised land by Judah. See on :23.</h4>


text:
<h4>Declare in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say, Stand forth, and prepare; for the sword has devoured around you- These were the very towns where the disobedient Jews went to live after the Babylonian invasion of Judah; from this prophecy, they ought to have already been aware of what Jeremiah declared to them- that even there in Egypt, the Babylonians would come and judge them (Jer 44:1). The declaration to Egypt is effectively an appeal for repentance; as noted on :13, the predicted ’smiting’ of Egypt was to be a repetition of that at the time of the Exodus. The gods of Egypt were smitten, but the smiting was ideally in order to elicit repentance. The word of judgment was as good as executed; but they were to"stand forth and prepare", a call to repentance.</h4>


text:
<h4>Why are your strong ones swept away? They didn’t stand, because Yahweh pushed them over- GNB:"Why has your mighty god Apis fallen? The LORD has struck him down!’". As at the exodus there was the ’smiting’ of Egypt’s gods, so again it would be. But this was all ideally intended to elicit repentance.</h4>


text:
<h4>He made many to stumble, yes, they fell one on another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword- This speaks of the mercenaries fighting for Egypt running away to their homelands.</h4>


text:
<h4>They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by- GNB"Give the king of Egypt a new name—’Noisy Braggart Who Missed His Chance’". As the Pharaoh at the time of the exodus was given a chance to repent, so now again (see on :13-15). As explained on Eze 30:21, God had worked to bring about the healing of Egypt in her repentance after her first defeat by the Babylonians. But she didn’t respond. Therefore Jer 46:17 AV says of Pharaoh:"he has let the appointed time pass by". He was given a window of repentance but he refused it. The breaking of Pharaoh’s arm as prophesied in Eze 30:21 was in fact by being a staff of reed to Judah which collapsed. This was all the very opposite narrative to that which the faithless Jews at the time wished to believe- that the strong arm of Pharaoh would save them from the Babylonians. Instead, both Judah and Egypt would collapse as it were in a heap together before the Babylonians. And from this debased state they were both intended to arise as repentant, knowing Yahweh. But they didn’t.</h4>


text:
<p>As I live, says the King whose name is Yahweh of Armies, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come- That is, with the same towering strength. The appeal to locations in Palestine was because those being addressed were not so much Egyptians as the Jews dwelling amongst them (:19).</p>


text:
<p>You daughter who dwells in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis shall become a desolation and shall be burnt up without inhabitant- The daughter refers to the Jewish communities in Egypt. This ought to have been understood by the Jews who wanted to go and join the Jewish communities already existing in Memphis and elsewhere in Egypt; they were to also go into captivity. See on <a href='B:300 44:1'>Jer 44:1</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north has come, it has come- GNB"Egypt is like a splendid cow, attacked by a stinging fly from the north".</p>


text:
<p>Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they didn’t stand: for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation- The apparent strength of Egypt was largely dependent upon their mercenaries; this prophecy emphasizes that. But Judah didn’t seem to want to appreciate that. They were but"fatted calves fed in her"(LXX); they were loyal only insofar as they were fed and paid by Egypt.</p>


text:
<p>The sound of it shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as wood cutters- This is just how the Babylonians came upon Jerusalem, with axes to cut down the cedarwork of the temple (<a href='B:230 74:5-6'>Psa 74:5-6</a>). Judah were not to think they had cleverly escaped judgment through moving to Egypt; judgment would still come to them.</p>


text:
<p>They shall cut down her forest, says Yahweh, though it can’t be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable- Just as Egypt had been plagued by locusts (see on :13), so those plagues were to be repeated. And yet again there was therefore the hope for repentance and exodus because of that.</p>


text:
<p>The daughter of Egypt shall be disappointed; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north- This is the daughter of :19, the Jewish daughter of Zion who lived in Egypt. They would be disappointed in Egypt; and again there is an abiding lesson. All trust in idols or in the things of Egypt, the world, will end in such disappointment, just as in due course Babylon would be disappointed in her idols (<a href='B:300 51:17'>Jer 51:17</a>).</p>


text:
<h4>Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will punish Amon of No- GNB"Amon, the god of Thebes". Egypt was to be punished by Babylon, and in due course Babylon too was to be punished (s:w. <a href='B:300 25:12'>Jer 25:12</a>). Jeremiah’s prophecies ought to have enabled God’s people to see that all human strength waxes and wanes, and all finally comes to His judgment.</h4><p>And Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him- Those who trusted in Egypt’s idols and gods were the Jews (:24).</p>


text:
<h4>And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; and afterwards it shall be inhabited like in the days of old, says Yahweh- GNB"But later on, people will live in Egypt again, as they did in times past. I, the LORD, have spoken". This is the language of restoration; it was clearly God’s plan to restore not only His own people and land, but those of the surrounding peoples.</h4>


text:
<p>But don’t you be afraid, Jacob My servant, neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid- The Jewish exiles in Egypt did indeed have something to fear and be dismayed about; but if they were repentant, then they would be restored even from Egypt into a new kingdom of God revived in the land of Israel. In the future, they would be unafraid; and even in the face of the Babylonian attack, they could still be unafraid. If they were truly penitent and on God’s side, then they could live the kingdom life there and then, just as we can. This salvation from far off must be understood in the context of how God says that He was potentially near to Judah, but they had chosen to keep Him"far off"(s:w:) in their hearts; see on <a href='B:300 12:2'>Jer 12:2</a>; <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.</p>


text:
<h4>Don’t you be afraid, O Jacob My servant, says Yahweh; for I am with you: for although I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, I will not make a full end of you- Earlier God had threatened to make a full end, the same phrase is found in <a href='B:290 10:23'>Isa 10:23</a> and <a href='B:430 1:18'>Zep 1:18</a>. But now God promises that He will not make a full end (<a href='B:300 5:10'>Jer 5:10</a>; <a href='B:300 5:18'>Jer 5:18</a>; <a href='B:300 4:27'>Jer 4:27</a>; <a href='B:300 30:11'>Jer 30:11</a>; <a href='B:300 46:28'>Jer 46:28</a>). God is not capricious; but His love and pity is such that He is unafraid to not do according to His wrath. In wrath God remembered mercy; or perhaps responded to some degree of repentance or intercession from a minority. And this God is our God.</h4><h4>But I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished- The frequent appeals for Judah to be"instructed"use the same word translated"punish"(<a href='B:30 26:18'>Lev 26:18</a>). The idea was that the punishments were to be instruction; they were not the lashing out of an offended Deity. It was God’s hope, even ’fantasy’ would not be too strong a word, that His people would realize this, and come to say"You punished / instructed me, and I was instructed"(<a href='B:300 31:18'>Jer 31:18</a> s:w:). That correction / punishment was to be"in measure", the same phrase is used by Jeremiah as Judah’s representative when he asked to be corrected"with justice / judgment"(<a href='B:300 10:18'>Jer 10:18</a>). His personal reformation was to be that of Judah. The paradox is that Judah deserved total destruction, as Jeremiah and other prophets do state at times; and yet the"just"judgment was that which resulted in reformation and not total destruction. That justice involved them not being left"unpunished"; the guilty cannot be"cleared"(s:w."unpunished"; <a href='B:20 34:7'>Exo 34:7</a>; <a href='B:410 1:3'>Nah 1:3</a>). That is a fundamental part of God’s character. The problem was that the Jews of Jeremiah’s time considered themselves"innocent"(<a href='B:300 2:35'>Jer 2:35</a> s:w."unpunished"). They had to be convicted both of their sin and of God’s grace, in punishing / correcting them less than their sins deserved (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before that Pharaoh struck Gaza- Judah were tempted to trust in the Philistines against Babylon. But this prophecy makes the point that they were to be struck by both Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein; and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail- The overflowing river refers to the army from the north (<a href='B:300 46:8'>Jer 46:8</a>; <a href='B:290 8:7'>Isa 8:7</a>). That overflowing stream of Babylon was going to overflow the entire eretz, and that included the territory of the Philistines. It was a useless to think that Babylon could be resisted through alliances with people within the eretz.</p>


text:
<p>At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don’t look back to their children for feebleness of hands- The word for the"rushing"noise of the cherubim wheels in Ezekiel is used elsewhere about the noise of the chariots of Israel’s enemies and the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 10:22'>Jer 10:22</a>; <a href='B:300 47:3'>Jer 47:3</a>; <a href='B:410 3:2'>Nah 3:2</a>). The Angelic armies of Heaven were therefore revealed on earth in the chariots of Babylon; it was both Babylon and the Angelic cherubim behind them who took Judah captive, and who could also return them to their land. Hence the stress in Ezekiel’s vision that the wheels of the cherubim were on the earth / land. Clearly enough, the things that go on in our lives, even those things which appear as brutal and tragic as the Babylonian chariots were to Judah and the nations in the land like the Philistines, are not random machinations of men; they are, in some unfathomableway, under the direct control of a God of love, who only means to do us good at our latter end.</p>


text:
<h4>because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains- The connection with Tyre and Sidon is in that the Philistines were in league with them. Judah would be left without any helper (<a href='B:310 1:7'>Lam 1:7</a> s:w:). Yahweh alone was the helper of His people (<a href='B:290 50:7'>Isa 50:7</a> s:w:).</h4><h4>For Yahweh will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor- Crete, the origin of the Philistines (<a href='B:50 2:23'>Deu 2:23</a>; <a href='B:370 9:7'>Amo 9:7</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?- The cutting of themselves was in order to beg their idols to arise and help them (<a href='B:110 18:28'>1Ki 18:28</a>). But they would not. Absolutely all human help was to be cut off; and therefore those who realized this would trust in Yahweh alone."The remnant of their valley"is LXX"the remainder of the Anakim", or giants. Again, all human strength was to be brought to nothing; and we do well to live life in that belief today.</p>


text:
<p>You sword of Yahweh, how long will it be before you be quiet? Put up yourself into your scabbard; rest, and be still- See on <a href='B:300 46:5'>Jer 46:5</a>. Jeremiah responds to the prophecy he has to utter against the hated Philistines by begging the Father to limit these judgments, presumably on account of their repentance: “O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still” (<a href='B:300 47:6'>Jer 47:6</a>). Think too of how he almost interrupts a prophecy he is giving to Israel about judgment to come by appealing for them therefore to repent (<a href='B:300 4:13-14'>Jer 4:13-14</a>). Our handling of the prophecies of judgment to come should have a like effect upon us: they should inspire us to an inevitable witness. Each of our days cannot be just ‘the same old scene’ when we see the world in this way.</p>


text:
<p>How can you be quiet, since Yahweh has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there has He appointed it- This may be Jeremiah’s reply to himself. These windows into Jeremiah’s struggles are profound; to preach the message of God’s word may well involve our struggle with it."Quiet"is the word just used in <a href='B:300 46:27'>Jer 46:27</a> of how Jacob shall be"at rest"when restored; and with the Philistines also, there is the implicit hope that there will be"rest"or"quiet"once the judgments of the sword have been carried out. For they too were intended to participate in the peace to come upon the entire eretz promised to Abraham.</p>


text:
<h4>Of Moab. Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo! for it is laid waste- The city, not the mountain (<a href='B:40 32:38'>Num 32:38</a>).</h4><h4>Kiriathaim is disappointed, it is taken; Misgab is put to shame and broken down- The present tenses are used because the threatened judgments are so certain. I suggest that there is a particular address to the Jews who had taken refuge in Moab, just as the previous chapter addresses the Jews who had taken refuge in Egypt (see on :18).</h4>


text:
<p>The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her. Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, Madmen, shall be brought to silence: the sword shall pursue you-"Heshbon"and"devised"are similar words, and so there is a word play here. Likewise"Madmen"and"brought to silence". The idea is that they had done this to themselves. Judgment is really self-inflicted and an extension of what the condemned did to themselves.</p>


text:
<p>The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction!- See on :4. In <a href='B:290 16:3'>Isa 16:3</a>, Moab had been asked to accept the exiles of Judah and thus shield them from"spoiling"(s:w. NEV"desolation"). It seems that they had spoiled the Jewish refugees and not at all shielded them from the spoiling of the northern invader, both at the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions. And so their attitude to their brother [for Moab and Israel were all related to Abraham] becomes the basis for their judgment. This is a continual theme, and one that will continue to our own judgment.</p>


text:
<p>Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard- Isaiah had also spoken of this crying out of Moab in their time of judgment, and it motivated him to himself cry out for them. We too will appeal to men with conviction, as Isaiah’s heart cried out for Moab like a young heifer about to be slaughtered, feeling for them in what would come upon them, and desperately appealing for their repentance. Because the Moabites would cry out and their voice would be heard, “my heart shall cry out for Moab” (<a href='B:290 15:4-5'>Isa 15:4-5</a>; <a href='B:290 15:8'>Isa 15:8</a>). As the Lord Jesus is a representative Saviour, we too must feel the judgment that is to come upon others, and in that sense cry out for them as they will cry out.</p>


text:
<p>For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction- See on :4. The same words for"cry of destruction"are found in the description of Jerusalem’ fall in <a href='B:430 1:10'>Zep 1:10</a>. The Jews who had fled to the mountainous crags of Moab to escape Divine judgment were going to receive exactly that judgment; leaving us a lesson, that we will not avoid judgment. We need to repent of our sins, rather than psychologically try to avert judgment coming.</p>


text:
<p>Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness- As noted on :4, this is an appeal for repentance. God wanted Moab saved too. LXX has"be like a wild ass in the wilderness", which is hard to capture. Through repentance, they could avoid the capture and destruction which was otherwise inevitable.</p>


text:
<p>For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also shall be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together- Their"works"were their idols, which are repeatedly described as the works of human hands (<a href='B:50 4:28'>Deu 4:28</a> etc:). And this is the essence of idolatry today- a trusting in our own works. Perhaps the reference is to the valuable stones in the Chemosh idol, which was therefore going to be taken into captivity as a valuable item. But it was understood that a god of a people or town always fought for its people, and if overcome, then it as it were goes into captivity (<a href='B:290 46:1'>Isa 46:1</a>; <a href='B:370 1:15'>Amo 1:15</a>). This was the difference with Israel’s God Yahweh, the God who threatened to destroy His own city and temple because of His sensitivity to His peoples’ sins; the God who brought their enemies upon them.</p>


text:
<h4>The destroyer shall come on every city, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; as Yahweh has spoken- The reference is to the Jordan valley and to the tableland of Moab. The Hebrew phrase for ’none escaping’ has been used by Jeremiah in describing the Babylonian judgment (<a href='B:300 34:3'>Jer 34:3</a>; <a href='B:300 38:18'>Jer 38:18</a>; <a href='B:330 17:18'>Eze 17:18</a>). The Jews (see on :18) thought they could escape by running to Moab; but it is foolish to think we can play games with God.</h4>


text:
<h4>May wings be given to Moab, that she may fly and get her away: and her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein- This may be Jeremiah’s interjection, wishing that Moab would take the way out- which was through repentance and turning to Yahweh. The"wings"of the mighty cherubim were there to deliver God’s people, or whoever trusted in Him.</h4>


text:
<p>Cursed is he who does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood- If Babylon was negligent in judging Moab, they would be cursed.</p>


text:
<p>Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed- The idea therefore is that by Moab going into captivity, their scent and taste would change; in other words, they would repent. The same figure is used of how the captivity of Judah was likewise to bring about their repentance (<a href='B:430 1:12'>Zep 1:12</a>). This was in view throughout all these judgments, that the nations around Israel would repent. We are baptized into the Name of Jesus, and bear that Name in the eyes of men. The Hebrew concept of a name meant really a renown, an understanding of the person. The Bride comments that “thy name is as ointment poured forth” (<a href='B:260 1:3'>Son 1:3</a>), likening the name to the smell of perfume. The “scent” of a nation is likewise their reputation, the message they give out (<a href='B:300 48:11'>Jer 48:11</a>; <a href='B:350 14:7'>Hos 14:7</a>). We are the savour of Christ (<a href='B:540 2:16'>2Co 2:16</a>), we bear His Name, and therefore anyone carrying the Name is thereby a witness to Him.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will send to him those who pour off, and they shall pour him off; and they shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces- There was to be no possibility for Moab to return to their former taste and scent (:11); the bottles of wine themselves would be broken. Yet this was all because God wanted them to radically change.</p>


text:
<p>Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence- The idol cult at Bethel was used by Judah too (<a href='B:370 5:5'>Amo 5:5</a>). Israel’s repentance and restoration was to signal that of the surrounding nations like Moab (see on :11). But they sadly failed. Clearly enough, God’s ideal intention even in Old Testament times was for the Gentiles to respond to the Hope of Israel. The aim of God’s judgments upon Moab were so that they might be ashamed of their idols, and that their “flavour” might be changed to be more pleasing to Israel’s God (:11); see on :28.</p>


text:
<p>How do you say, We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war?- The present tense is used; they at that time were confident in their own strength, but the Divine word of judgment was as good as fulfilled, so that :15 also uses the present tense in saying that"Moab is laid waste".</p>


text:
<p>Moab is laid waste, and they are gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies- These titles are in contrast to Chemosh, god of Moab, which means ’ the powerful / subduing one’.</p>


text:
<p>The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast- This is a quotation from <a href='B:50 32:35'>Deu 32:35</a> about the judgments of Israel (<a href='B:50 32:36'>Deu 32:36</a>). As suggested on :18, it is the Jews in Moab who are being addressed here.</p>


text:
<p>All you who are around him, bemoan him; all you who know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod!- It would be Judah who particularly lamented the breaking of the strength of Moab, because she was one of the nations Judah trusted in against the Babylonians. We note how ’knowing his name’ means to have trusted and understood Moab based upon his history and characteristics; and likewise to know Yahweh’s Name is far more than simply knowing the word"Yahweh".</p>


text:
<p>You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your strongholds- The daughter who dwelt in Egypt referred to the Jews who had fled there for salvation from the Babylonians; see on <a href='B:300 46:19'>Jer 46:19</a>; <a href='B:300 46:24'>Jer 46:24</a>. Perhaps some had fled to Moab and been accepted there (from the time of <a href='B:290 16:4'>Isa 16:4</a>), and were confident that Babylonian judgment could never reach them. But the Babylonian destroyer of Moab would also come to them there. See on :20,22,23.</p>


text:
<p>Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch: ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, What has been done?- This town was Moab’s great pride; Mesha records on the “Moabite stone” that he “built (i:e. restored) the city".</p>


text:
<p>Moab is disappointed; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste- "Disappointed" is a concept more relevant to the Jews being disappointed in their trust in Moab, just as those who lived in Egypt had been of their trust upon Egypt (<a href='B:300 46:24'>Jer 46:24</a>). The Jews who had fled to Moab would likewise be disappointed (see on :18).</p>


text:
<p>Judgement has come on the plain country, on Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath- These last two were priestly cities (<a href='B:60 21:36-37'>Jos 21:36-37</a>). Israel had allowed these priestly cities to be lost to Moab, and thereby had decreased the accessibility of salvation intended for them. We can do the same in essence.</p>


text:
<p>Dibon, Nebo, Beth Diblathaim- "House of two figs". The Hebrew name may have been carried over by the Moabites from its original Israelite name; or perhaps the Jews living there gave it this name. See on :18.</p>


text:
<p>Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul, Beth Meon- The Moabites called the latter town Beth Baal Meon (<a href='B:60 13:17'>Jos 13:17</a>), and it is noted like that on the Moabite stone. The absence of "Baal" could suggest that this was a town taken over by Jews who had emigrated there; see on :18.</p>


text:
<p>Kerioth, Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near- Kerioth could be another name for Ar (<a href='B:40 21:28'>Num 21:28</a>; <a href='B:370 2:2'>Amo 2:2</a>). Bozrah is likely the Bezer of <a href='B:50 4:43'>Deu 4:43</a>; <a href='B:60 20:8'>Jos 20:8</a>; <a href='B:60 21:36'>Jos 21:36</a>.</p>


text:
<p>The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says Yahweh- This was the judgment to happen to Israel (<a href='B:310 2:3'>Lam 2:3</a>; <a href='B:370 3:14'>Amo 3:14</a>). Again we see a similarity in the judgments, because it was the same Divine hand trying to also elicit repentance in Moab as well as Israel.</p>


text:
<p>Make him drunken; for he magnified himself against Yahweh: and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision- See on :42. This may be an invitation to Jeremiah to again take a cup of wine to Moab (<a href='B:300 25:15'>Jer 25:15</a>). Moab need not have drunk this cup of judgment, had they submitted to Babylon and repented before Yahweh. As Moab derided Israel, so they would be (:27). Again we see the eternal truth- that how we treat God’s people is the basis for our eternal blessing or condemnation.</p>


text:
<p>For wasn’t Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head- Israel were indeed as caught thieves (<a href='B:300 2:26'>Jer 2:26</a>), who were to be despised. The Lord’s Bible mind would have found some sort of encouragement from those who mocked Him. For the Lord was so clearly bearing the judgment of Israel’s sins: “All who pass along the way clap their hands at you: they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem"(<a href='B:310 2:15'>Lam 2:15</a>). And note too <a href='B:300 48:27'>Jer 48:27</a> (LXX 31:27): “Is Israel a laughing stock? Was she caught between thieves that you wag your head?". This was exactly the Lord’s position, between thieves, and mocked- but by Israel. These prophecies imply it was the Gentiles who would mock Israel; thus by treating the Lord as they did, they declared themselves to be no longer God’s people but Gentiles.</p>


text:
<p>You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss- They were intended to hide themselves in the rocks in repentance and be ashamed of their idols, just as Judah were to (<a href='B:300 48:11'>Jer 48:11</a>; <a href='B:300 48:13'>Jer 48:13</a>; <a href='B:300 48:28'>Jer 48:28</a> cp. <a href='B:290 2:19-21'>Isa 2:19-21</a>). Israel were to be the light to the Gentile world around them, the righteous servant who showed light to the Gentiles; their repentance and restoration was to signal that of the surrounding nations (see on :11). But they sadly failed.</p>


text:
<p>We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the highness of his heart- This is the ultimate reason for all condemnation. The pride of Moab is lamented also in <a href='B:290 25:11'>Isa 25:11</a>; <a href='B:430 2:8-10'>Zep 2:8-10</a>. This seems to be an expansion upon the prophecy of <a href='B:290 16:6'>Isa 16:6</a>.</p>


text:
<p>I know his wrath, says Yahweh, that it is nothing; his boastings have worked nothing- All external bravado and appearance is seen through by God; and we should also not find it attractive. Judah had found the bravado of Moab so attractive.</p>


text:
<h4>Therefore will I wail for Moab; yes, I will cry out for all Moab: for the men of Kir Heres shall they mourn- Isaiah’s love for the Gentiles whom he condemned (see on <a href='B:290 16:7'>Isa 16:7</a>) inspired Jeremiah to adopt the same attitude (<a href='B:300 48:20'>Jer 48:20</a>; <a href='B:300 48:31-34'>Jer 48:31-34</a>); he too howled for those whose howling in condemnation he prophesied (<a href='B:300 48:31'>Jer 48:31</a> s:w:). As Moab cried out like a three year old heifer (<a href='B:300 48:34'>Jer 48:34</a>), so did Isaiah for them (<a href='B:290 15:5'>Isa 15:5</a>). All this was done by Isaiah and Jeremiah, knowing that Moab hated Israel (<a href='B:290 25:10'>Isa 25:10</a>) and were evidently worthy of God’s condemnation. But all the same they loved them, in the spirit of Noah witnessing to the mocking world around him. Our knowledge of this world’s future means that as we walk the streets and mix with men and women, our heart should cry out for them, no matter how they behave towards us, and there should be a deep seated desire for at least some of them to come to repentance and thereby avoid the judgments to come. Particularly is this true, surely, of the people and land of Israel. It ought to be impossible for us to walk its streets or meet its people without at least desiring to give them a leaflet or say at least something to try to help them see what lies ahead.</h4>


text:
<h4>With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for you, vine of Sibmah: your branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer: on your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer is fallen- The "I" who is lamenting is God through Jeremiah. It is hard to lament the fall of the arrogant and abusive; but all the same, we see here the lament for the loss of every human being by God and His prophet.</h4>


text:
<p>Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses: none shall tread with shouting; the shouting shall be no shouting- The Hebrew noun is used for both the joyous shout of the grape-treaders and for a battle-cry. The removal of the blessing of joy and&nbsp; wine recalls the covenant blessings being withdrawn from Israel for breaking the covenant; and again we suspect that it is the Jews living in Moab who are particularly in view (see on :18).</p>


text:
<p>From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolate- This is a condensed form ofIsa 15:4-6. Isaiah’s prophecies about Moab hadn’t come true at his time, but now they had the possibility of coming true in Jeremiah’s time. The final fulfilment of every prophetic word will be in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says Yahweh, him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods- The implication could be that it was particularly the idolaters who were to be destroyed. The prophets condemn Israel for having adopted the gods of the surrounding nations, so perhaps these idol worshippers are specifically the Jews who had gone to live there; see on :18.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres: therefore the abundance that he has gotten is perished- This appears to be the interjection of Jeremiah for Moab. He really believed that what he was saying was going to happen to them, and his heart bled for them. See on 31.</p>


text:
<p>For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the waist sackcloth- This is a repeat of <a href='B:290 15:2'>Isa 15:2</a>. Such signs of mourning were forbidden to Israelites (<a href='B:30 19:27'>Lev 19:27</a>; <a href='B:30 21:5'>Lev 21:5</a>). But it seems that those mourning in Moab were Israelites who had taken refuge there, as they thought, from God’s judgments through the Babylonians (see on :18). So the idea may be that they had become so identified with Moab that they acted as they did, and thus broke their covenant with Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which none delights, says Yahweh- Housetops and streets were where idols were worshipped; earlier Jeremiah has lamented that Jerusalem’s streets and roofs were full of such idolatry. Moab was no better, and would suffer the same judgment. Moab was now going to be a vessel in which nobody delighted- including the Jews who had fled there for refuge.</p>


text:
<p>How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are around him- The same kind of language is used about the condemnation of Moab as is used for that of Judah. The idea is that they were intended to repent together, so that the revived kingdom of God in Israel would be populated by the repentant, surrounding nations too.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab- Just as Babylon came as an eagle against Judah, so it would against Moab (<a href='B:300 4:13'>Jer 4:13</a>; <a href='B:50 28:49'>Deu 28:49</a>). There was to be no avoiding Divine judgment. The wings of the cherubim were there for Israel’s protection; but they had spurned them, and instead run to Moab for help (see on :18).</p>


text:
<p>Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs- Again the metaphor has hope of a new birth out of this calamity. The Divine hope was that Moab along with Israel would repent and form a reborn people in the restored Kingdom of God in Israel.</p>


text:
<p>Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Yahweh- It is the Name of Yahweh which is to be magnified because of His special love for Israel (s:w. <a href='B:100 7:26'>2Sa 7:26</a>), and therefore magnifying themselves against God’s people was magnifying themselves against Yahweh (<a href='B:430 2:10'>Zep 2:10</a>). Any magnification of self against God’s people is therefore a revolt against Yahweh and all that is implicit in His Name. We can do this, by magnifying our own desires and needs above those of His collective people.</p>


text:
<p>Fear, the pit and the snare are upon you, inhabitant of Moab, says Yahweh- Their relationship with Babylon would be a "snare" in that they united with them and were then destroyed by them.</p>


text:
<p>He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation, says Yahweh- <a href='B:300 48:44'>Jer 48:44</a>; <a href='B:300 49:5'>Jer 49:5</a> describe condemnation as fear being brought upon people (as <a href='B:220 3:25'>Job 3:25</a>; <a href='B:240 1:27'>Pro 1:27</a>), and <a href='B:290 24:18'>Isa 24:18</a> and other passages speak of the condemned fleeing from “the noise of the fear”. “The fear” is almost a way of saying ‘the judgment of God’ (<a href='B:310 3:47'>Lam 3:47</a>). The torment of the rejected will be their fear (<a href='B:690 4:18'>1Jn 4:18</a>). Psychologically, we need to get in touch with our own fears now, face our fears of condemnation eye to eye, and work through them- in repenting and coming to believe firmly in God’s gracious acceptance, living in the spirit of the true love which casts out fear. I know men and women who knew God and walked with the Lord, but now say ‘it means nothing to me’. They shrug when I nervously mention to them the reality of judgment to come- and I’m not very bold at bringing the conversations around to that issue, because it is just so fearsome and of such magnitude. They tell me that they’re indifferent. But somewhere deep within them, no matter what good actors they are before the stage of our human eyes, there has to be a deep and awful fear. And it is that fear which will be revealed and which will grip them in that final day. Perhaps the greatest mental torment of the rejected will be realizing how they could have been in the Kingdom of God; they will then perceive how great was the potential which they had had in the brief years of their mortality.</p>


text:
<p>Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones- This quotes from the prophecies against Moab in <a href='B:40 21:28'>Num 21:28</a>; <a href='B:40 24:17'>Num 24:17</a>. The final fulfilment of all the prophetic word will be at the last day, when the Lord Jesus as the "star out of Jacob" will destroy the latter day equivalent of Moab, and any Jews who have taken refuge with her.</p>


text:
<p>Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh is undone; for your sons are taken away captive, and your daughters into captivity- This is based on <a href='B:40 21:29'>Num 21:29</a>. And yet Balaam’s prophecies against Moab all have a latter day application. See on :47.</p>


text:
<p>Yet will I revive the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, says Yahweh. Thus far is the judgement of Moab- They too were intended to participate in the peace to come upon the entire eretz promised to Abraham. It was God’s intention to restore not just Israel, but all the peoples within the land, many of whom were in fact relatives of Abraham. The final fulfilment of these prophecies will be in the last day.</p>


text:
<p>Of the children of Ammon. Thus says Yahweh: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? why then does Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in its cities?- I suggested on the previous two chapters that these judgments have in view the fact that some Jews had fled to Egypt (see on <a href='B:300 46:19'>Jer 46:19</a>) and Moab (see on <a href='B:300 48:11'>Jer 48:11</a>) to try to avoid Divine judgment. But those judgments would come. And some had also fled to Ammon. We know this because Ishmael was living there with a community of Jews at the time of the Babylonian invasion of Judah (<a href='B:300 40:14'>Jer 40:14</a>; <a href='B:300 41:10'>Jer 41:10</a>). This was why the people of the ten tribes ["Gad"; or LXX "Gilead"] were dwelling in the cities of Ammon. By doing so, effectively those Jews and Israelites were cutting themselves off from the covenant. They were losing their possession, as if they had "no heir".</p>


text:
<p>Therefore behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon; and it shall become a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel possess those who possessed him, says Yahweh- Historically there was no fulfilment of this; Rabbah wasn’t burnt and then possessed by Israel. As noted at the end of Jeremiah 48, the prophecies here will come to their final fulfilment in the last days. They could have come true in Jeremiah’s time; the potential scenario was that Israel and Judah both repented, the nations around them were judged and also repented, and together Abraham’s fragmented family would be reunited in the revived Kingdom of God in Israel. This didn’t then happen; but the prophetic thought and intention has been rescheduled and reapplied to the last days.</p>


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<h4>Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste; cry, you daughters of Rabbah, clothe yourself in sackcloth: lament, and run back and forth among the fences- This lamenting could be a call to repentance- which was not responded to.</h4><h4>For Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together- This is the same language as used about the Moabites in <a href='B:300 48:7'>Jer 48:7</a>. It was understood that a god of a people or town always fought for its people, and if overcome, then it as it were goes into captivity (<a href='B:290 46:1'>Isa 46:1</a>; <a href='B:370 1:15'>Amo 1:15</a>). This was the difference with Israel’s God Yahweh, the God who threatened to destroy His own city and temple because of His sensitivity to His peoples’ sins; the God who brought their enemies upon them.</h4>


text:
<p>Why do you glory in the valleys, your lowing valley, backsliding daughter? Who trusted in her treasures, saying, who shall come to me?- All trust in human strength, wealth especially, is abhorrent to God. Treasures or wealth can in no way buy off Divine judgment. However the reference to a "backsliding daughter" is more relevant to the daughter of Zion who was then living in Ammonite territory (see on :1). It is a term used about her and not the Ammonites in <a href='B:300 31:22'>Jer 31:22</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, I will bring a fear on you, says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, from all who are around you; and you shall be driven out every man right forth, and there shall be none to gather together the fugitive- <a href='B:300 48:44'>Jer 48:44</a>; <a href='B:300 49:5'>Jer 49:5</a> describe condemnation as fear being brought upon people (as <a href='B:220 3:25'>Job 3:25</a>; <a href='B:240 1:27'>Pro 1:27</a>), and <a href='B:290 24:18'>Isa 24:18</a> and other passages speak of the condemned fleeing from “the noise of the fear”. “The fear” is almost a way of saying ‘the judgment of God’ (<a href='B:310 3:47'>Lam 3:47</a>). The torment of the rejected will be their fear (<a href='B:690 4:18'>1Jn 4:18</a>). Psychologically, we need to get in touch with our own fears now, face our fears of condemnation eye to eye, and work through them- in repenting and coming to believe firmly in God’s gracious acceptance, living in the spirit of the true love which casts out fear. I know men and women who knew God and walked with the Lord, but now say ‘it means nothing to me’. They shrug when I nervously mention to them the reality of judgment to come- and I’m not very bold at bringing the conversations around to that issue, because it is just so fearsome and of such magnitude. They tell me that they’re indifferent. But somewhere deep within them, no matter what good actors they are before the stage of our human eyes, there has to be a deep and awful fear. And it is that fear which will be revealed and which will grip them in that final day. Perhaps the greatest mental torment of the rejected will be realizing how they could have been in the Kingdom of God; they will then perceive how great was the potential which they had had in the brief years of their mortality.</p>


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<p>But afterwards I will revive the fortunes of the children of Ammon, says Yahweh- They too were intended to participate in the peace to come upon the entire eretz promised to Abraham. It was God’s intention to restore not just Israel, but all the peoples within the land, many of whom were in fact relatives of Abraham. The final fulfilment of these prophecies will be in the last day.</p>


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<p>Of Edom. Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?- All human wisdom is despised by God when it is used to justify unGodly behaviour. That was how He viewed the renowned wisdom of Edom, and it is how He must feel today.</p>


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<p>Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him, the time that I shall visit him- The appeal to "turn back" may be a call to repentance; although of all the nations, Edom is the one of whom there is no hint of future restoration. "The calamity of Esau" was the thing he feared most, which was domination by Jacob. This was not fulfilled at Jeremiah’s time; the prophetic potential was that a repentant Israel would have dominated the nations around them. But Israel didn’t repent; and so the fulfilment has been rescheduled to the last days.</p>


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<h4>If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?- As we judge, we will be judged; even Babylon will be judged as she judged others (<a href='B:730 18:20'>Rev 18:20</a> RV), and Edom’s judgments in <a href='B:300 49:9'>Jer 49:9</a> are an exact reflection of how she judged Israel, leaving no remnant (<a href='B:380 1:5'>Oba 1:5</a>). And therefore we should almost jump at the opportunity to judge- with grace.</h4><h4>If thieves by night, wouldn’t they steal until they had enough?- God as it were understands that a hungry thief will steal food (as taught in <a href='B:240 6:30'>Pro 6:30</a>); but Edom had done far more than that. We see here God’s sensitivity, and how He judges behaviour on a sliding scale, taking account of circumstantial factors. We are too easy to excuse sin by pleading situational ethics; but God as the only true judge can make this judgment in a way that we cannot. The implication of the argument is that a certain degree of theft or grape picking would have been acceptable with God. He recognized that Esau / Edom had a legitimate issue with Jacob, even though of course he should ideally have simply forgiven him. But God perceived that they had gone far beyond that. This is not to say that some degree of vengeance and sin is somehow OK with God, but beyond that invisible line, it is not. But on the other hand, God is used to judging human sin, and He does so with understanding, as the only true judge, taking into account all background factors which led to the sinful behaviour.</h4>


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<p>But I have made Esau bare,I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbours; and he is no more- 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 like Edom thought they could hide from Him (<a href='B:300 23:24'>Jer 23:24</a> s:w:).</p>


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<p>Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in Me- This is a clear invitation to Edom to repent. They are asked not to focus solely upon their losses and the need to provide for their families in distress, but to trust in Yahweh. So easily faith in Yahweh is eclipsed by our sense that we can be and must be the saviour of the moment.</p>


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<p>For thus says Yahweh: Behold, they to whom it didn’t pertain to drink of the cup shall certainly drink; and are you he who shall altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink- Edom had the attitude that the cup of Divine judgment could not come to them. This is a theme of all these final prophecies upon the nations- they thought, as did the Jews amongst them, that they could somehow avoid judgment. There were people who were not the objects of judgment who would suffer collateral damage from the judgments, and thereby they too drunk of it. So Edom shouldn’t think that she should escape because of her geography and nature of her location.</p>


text:
<p>For I have sworn by Myself, says Yahweh, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all its cities shall be perpetual wastes- The strength of the language against Edom always seems somewhat harsher than the words against the other nations; here God swears by Himself, as He can find no greater way to express the truth (<a href='B:650 6:13'>Heb 6:13</a>). Perhaps this is because Edom, which is Esau, was Jacob’s brother. What we do against our brother in the faith is so especially culpable before God. Edom or Esau was singled out for such special condemnation because he was Jacob’s brother (<a href='B:380 1:10'>Oba 1:10</a>). This was not the case for the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Philistines etc. Jacob and Esau were admittedly somewhat separated, and Jacob hadn’t been the best brother to Esau. But they were still brothers, and God expected much better of Esau / Edom than He did of the others. And here too we find a penetrating challenge. Our brethren whom we may view askance, from whom we may be separated by the way life has gone for us, are still our brothers. And we are judged very sensitively according to our attitudes toward them, especially in the time of their distress, however justified we may feel that distress to be.</p>


text:
<h4>I have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations saying- Jeremiah is telling Edom that he had heard inside news, as it were, from Yahweh. Surely the reason for telling Edom ahead of time is so that they might repent. The Hebrew for "ambassador" is also translated "messenger", which is also what the Hebrew for "angel" means. So perhaps an Angel is in view, sent amongst the nations to stir them up to a battle which would result in the destruction of Edom. It was as if Jeremiah was allowed a vision of the court of heaven, the heavenly throne room, where decisions were made and Angels sent out to operationalize them. Obadiah was given the same insight concerning Edom, as he reports in the same words in <a href='B:380 1:1'>Oba 1:1</a>.</h4><h4>Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle- According to Obadiah, who repeats this prophecy with further interpretation, the judgment of Edom was to result in the restoration of Israel’s Kingdom. This could have happened at various points in the history of Judah and Israel, but it didn’t, because Israel didn’t repent and the restoration was not conducted spiritually. The ultimate fulfilment of this prophecy, as of all prophecy, will be in the last days.</h4>


text:
<p>For, behold, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men- The past tense here must be compared with the present tense&nbsp; used elsewhere about Edom’s pride at that time. It is therefore a prophetic perfect- God’s word, both of judgment and salvation blessing, is so certain of fulfilment that it can be spoken as having already happened. This is why there are passages which speak of the believer’s salvation as if it has already occurred, whereas at this point in human time we are still mortal. It was Israel / Jacob who were made small among the nations; Jacob was the "younger", s:w. ’smaller’, son compared to Esau (<a href='B:10 27:15'>Gen 27:15</a>; <a href='B:10 27:42'>Gen 27:42</a>). Esau / Edom was to receive the judgment of Jacob. This is a major theme of the Apocalypse, that Israel’s enemies suffer as she suffers; the seals of judgment upon Israel are in essence repeated in the vials of judgment upon the surrounding nations.</p>


text:
<h4>As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you- It was their apparently awesome human strength which deceived Esau / Edom, according to the parallel in <a href='B:380 1:13'>Oba 1:13</a>. And in <a href='B:380 1:7'>Oba 1:7</a> it is the other nations in the confederacy against Israel who deceive Edom. They praised Edom’s strength, and Edom’s heart was thereby lifted up in pride. The problem with human strength is that it deceives; we thereby play God and become proud.</h4><p>O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill- Pride is consistently given as the reason for the judgment of nations. God is so sensitive to it, and so should we be. The allusion is to how the houses in Petra were carved out of caves in the rock. Edom is recorded as having expelled the Horites from the area where the Edomites settled, and ’Horite’ is literally ’a cave dweller’. The consistent message of the prophets is that human strength will not save ultimately, and is in fact an abomination to the God who loves humble trust in Him above all things.</p><h4>Though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh- <a href='B:300 49:22'>Jer 49:22</a> says that an eagle greater than them shall take them away from their mountain fortress.</h4>


text:
<p>Edom shall become an astonishment: each one who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its plagues- This is the language of judgment upon Jerusalem; it would come also upon Edom. Esau would not be able to consider himself superior to Jacob; he would have the same judgment. But the full extent of the destruction of Edomite territory didn’t then happen; see on :18,21.</p>


text:
<p>As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbouring cities, says Yahweh, no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man live therein- This has never quite come true for the land of Edom; the implication is that the whole area would be punished in some way which made the whole area uninhabitable, as happened to Sodom. But this has been rescheduled to the last days. See on :17,21; <a href='B:300 50:12'>Jer 50:12</a>.</p>


