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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


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


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


text:
<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


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<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>


