Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, came from a priestly family in Anathoth and the word of the Lord (1v2) first came to him in the days of Josiah, one of the better kings. Sadly, the country then went quickly downhill under succeeding kings Jehoiakim and Zedekiah until, as we know, Judah was finally taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonian empire. Isaiah had prophesied this destruction of Jerusalem, over 100 years earlier, but Jeremiah had to watch the city fall around him. He had a message from God but very few wanted to listen to him and he was often very unpopular.
GOD HAS PLANS FOR US
God had some very specific words for Jeremiah (4-10) from which we can learn much. Firstly, the Lord forms us in the womb and before we are born he has plans for us. Youth and fear of people are no barriers because God is with us to deliver us. In Jeremiah’s case, he had to, fearlessly, speak the words God put into his mouth (v8, 9). The destiny of nations would be in his hands (v10) and Jeremiah would stand strong (v18) even though he would have the whole country fighting against him (v19).
GOD DIVORCED HIS UNFAITHFUL WIVES
Destructive nations would come from the north (v15) and God had rejected the allied nations who they hoped would save them, Assyria and Egypt (2v36). The way God viewed their worship of other gods was like a wife who had many lovers (3v1) and did what she liked. The people assumed that God being their old, reliable friend would let them get away with all their flirting with the enemy (v4). Judah had seen what God had done to Israel, their sister country, for her adulteries and how He had divorced them (v8) but in the end they made the same mistakes. Yet despite the way Judah had treated her husband, the Lord, He was still offering to forgive and be merciful if, only, they acknowledged their guilt and returned to Him (11-13). Using different imagery God had hoped his children would call Him “My Father” (v19). In Chapter 4v19 you can see the pain and anguish in God’s heart as he sees the inevitable judgement coming to pass. Sadly, most prophets were sending false messages of hope that no evil would come upon them (5v12, 31-also 14v13-16). This was the time of their calamity but God had already decided that he was not going to make a full end of Judah (5v18) for he would keep a remnant in exile.
MY EYES A FOUNTAIN OF TEARS
Jeremiah was asked to stand outside God’s house (7v2) because the people thought that they were safe, as long as God’s house and presence was among them. God was asking them to change their ways, have a heart for the weak and put away the false gods (v5-7). Historically, all God had wanted was for His people to obey him and walk in His ways (v23) but they had looked “backwards rather than forwards” (v24). Another word for this is “backsliding” (8v5) which is word mentioned more times in Jeremiah than any other book of the Bible. Jeremiah was sick with grief (8v18) over what was happening and we see him weeping a fountain of tears (9v1). It seems, though, that those tears were not only his own but also the tears of the heavenly Father himself.
It was not much fun being a prophet for even those in his home town of Anathoth sought to kill him but Jeremiah was covered by the Lord’s protection (11v21). God had decided to forsake His house and give the beloved of His heart into the hands of their enemies (12v7), yet the good news was that He was already planning to bring a remnant of them back again to the land of their heritage (12v15).
JEREMIAH’S VISUAL PROPHESIES
It is interesting to see how Jeremiah was asked to give visual messages and in chapter 13 we see how he was asked to take a linen loin cloth, bury it and dig it up later, only to find it ruined. This was to explain how God had wanted His people to cling closely to him like a loincloth but, instead, they had stubbornly rejected Him and would end up in a ruined state. Notice (v11) that if we cling to Him He will make us His people, His name, His praise and His glory. Jeremiah’s prophesy was full of imagery, using expressions like “can Ethiopians change their skin or leopards their spots?” (v23). It was a tough assignment for Jeremiah and like Job he sometimes wished he had never been born (15v10) but true prophets love the word of God; “your words I found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (v16). His pain was increasing, his wound incurable (v18) and increasingly, he was becoming disillusioned, but God in his tenderness renewed his vision with promises of personal protection (19-21). Jeremiah was not allowed to marry, as a symbol that there would be no future for the nation’s children (16v2). He was not allowed to go to any funerals, as a picture of the future when the slaughter would be so great there would not be time for burials (v6). He was not allowed to attend feasts (v8), because there would be no feasting or marrying in the future that Jeremiah was prophesying. Yet God was already looking beyond that time when He would no longer be called the God who brought His people out of Egypt but the one who brought His people out of exile in the north (16v14, 15). Jeremiah was then told to go down to the potter’s house (ch18v2) and, as he watched, the potter spoiled the vessel he was working on and reworked the clay into another one. Through this, Jeremiah learnt that God is ever willing to change His mind (v8) and it is never too late to turn from our evil ways and actions (v11). Next, God told him to go and smash a finished potter’s jug (ch 19) in the valley of the son of Hinnom, for it was an evil place which God would break, never to be mended (v11). The priest Pashhur could not stand the prophet any longer so he struck him and put him in the stocks (20v2). When Jeremiah spoke he was a laughing stock (v7) but whenever he kept quiet, God’s word was like a fire that burned within him (v9). The Judah king, worried about King Nebuchadnezzar, sent a message asking Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord (21v1). God’s answer was that He was setting before them a way of life and a way of death (v8) for the people who surrendered would live but those who stayed in Jerusalem would die by sword, famine or pestilence (v9).
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
In chapter 23 the Lord condemned the shepherds, the leaders who destroyed and scattered His sheep. This exciting passage explains how He is going to raise up good shepherds to look after them and, furthermore, He was going to raise up a righteous Branch who would be known (v6) as “the Lord is our righteousness”, Jesus our Saviour. Meanwhile, His immediate purposes were going to be worked out (ch24) among the exiles (good figs) who would return to God with all their heart and not through the existing leadership (bad figs). In chapter 25 we learn that the exile would be for 70 years (v12). God is very reluctant to discipline and He tells Jeremiah, in chapter 26, to speak once again so that they turn from their evil way; if so, God could then change his mind about the disaster.
YOKE TO BABYLON
Jeremiah was asked to make (ch27) a wooden yoke and bars to carry around his neck and, by this, carry the message to the local nations that they should submit to the king of Babylon. Some vessels from the temple had already been taken to Babylon and false prophets were saying that they would soon be brought back (v16); this was not the case for it would happen only on the day that the Lord would “give attention to them” (v22). One of these prophets, Hananiah, insisted that the yoke of the king of Babylon would soon be broken and then he took hold of Jeremiah’s yoke (28v10) and broke it symbolically. Hananiah had spoken rebellion against the Lord and was dead within a year.
A FUTURE AND A HOPE
Jeremiah sent a letter to those already in exile saying that they should (29v 5,6) build houses etc…”; in other words, they should settle down and be a blessing to their captors (v7). He also wrote those classic words of encouragement (29v10-14) about their future and hope. Despite this period of exile to come, God already had plans for their welfare and restoration after 70 years when they would call, pray and seek him with all their heart. God was so intent that the people knew these promises of restoration that He asked Jeremiah to write them all in a book (ch30v1, 2). Here we see glimpses of a coming messiah who would be “one of their own”(v9, 21) anticipating Jesus, the human being. Perhaps the thing that would hurt God the most was when the nations called them an outcast: “it is Zion; no one cares for her” (v17). No, the reason for this exile was that God intensely cared for his people; he would never let them down and it was them who had let Him down. He had loved Israel with an everlasting love (31v3) and would be faithful to them. His ultimate desire was that their mourning be turned into joy (v13) and they be satisfied with his bounty (v14). How could he forget his child (v20)? “I will satisfy the weary, and all who faint I will replenish” (v25). The restoration would be a new covenant with His people (v33, 34) “ I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts….” In chapter 32 we see the final siege of Jerusalem, during which Jeremiah was confined in the court of king Zedekiah’s palace guard yet the words of the Lord still kept coming to Jeremiah. He was surprised when God told him to buy a field (v6) and put the deeds in an earthenware pot which would last a long time (v14); for this was a picture that they would, eventually, return to their own land. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord (v17-19).
CALL TO ME
Jeremiah 33v2,3; God is a God who wants us to call to Him and then He will show us hidden things. In fact, this chapter reveals that the new restoration would be a time of cleansing from their guilt (v8) and a righteous Branch would spring up, the Lord our righteousness (v15,16). In chapter 35v2 God told Jeremiah to invite a family of people called the Rechabites to the house of Lord and offer them wine to drink. Jeremiah set out pitchers full of wine, with cups, and said to them “have some wine”(v5). Interestingly, they refused because their ancestor Jonadab had commanded them not to drink. This was a prophetic message where God contrasted the obedience the Rechabites to their ancestor with Judah who had continually disobeyed all the servants and prophets that He had sent (v14). When God had spoken and called there had been no answer.
JEREMIAH’S PERSECUTION
The order of the book of Jeremiah is mixed up, date-wise, but I believe the book still, perfectly, hangs together. In chapter 36, we go back to a previous kingdom when Jeremiah was asked to write a scroll which God hoped would encourage His people to repent. He dictated the words to Baruch who read them out in the house of the Lord and this so impressed the officials that they took it to the king. As the words were read, the king cut them off with a penknife and threw them into the fire he was sitting next to. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and God told him to write another scroll just like the first (v28) but some extra words as well! (v32).
Back to Zedekiah’s reign and we read of Jeremiah being beaten and locked up in Jonathan’s house (a converted prison) (37v15). He was later released but some of the leaders felt that his message was discouraging the soldiers left in the city (38v4) so they decided to drop Jeremiah by ropes into a muddy cistern until he found himself gradually sinking to his death (v6). Fortunately, a good man, an Ethiopian eunuch, heard about it, went to speak to the king and got permission to pull him out again (v7…). The king wanted to hear the word of the Lord but, sadly, he was not interested in the answer (v14).
THE FINAL DESTRUCTION
Finally, after a siege of 18 months, king Nebuchadnezzar breached the walls of Jerusalem (ch39) and the king and his soldiers escaped through a little-known exit from the king’s garden. The Chaldeans caught up with the party, killed many, put out the eyes of Zedekiah and chained him to take to Babylon. Many more citizens were exiled and only the poor were left in the city. Jeremiah had favour with the Babylonians (v12) and divine protection was given to Ebed-melech because he had trusted the Lord (v16-18). Jeremiah was given the choice of staying in Judah or going to Babylon (ch40v4) and he decided to stay. Things were going alright under a puppet governor installed by Nebuchadnezzar, Gedaliah. Sadly, he was killed by Ishmael (ch41) who, worried at the prospect of Babylonian revenge, intended to escape to Egypt (v17); he came to Jeremiah for advice from the Lord as to where they should go (ch 42). Ten days later, God had spoken-stay in the land for if you go to Egypt then that would be a fatal mistake (v15, 16). He disobeyed, of course, and the settlers in the land followed Johanan into Egypt (43v7). Jeremiah went as well and, while there, God told him to take some stones and bury them in the clay pavement at the entrance to the king’s palace in Thahpanhes (v9). The message being that King Nebuchadnezzar would spread his royal canopy over them and ravage the land of Egypt as well (v11); none of the remnant who had gone there would survive. What is clear is that they were already trusting in and worshipping other gods in Egypt (ch44). There follows a series of prophecies when Jeremiah spoke about neighbouring nations; mainly that they would not avoid the catastrophes that were coming (ch 46-49) – Egypt ,the Philistines, Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Elam and of course, Babylon in chapter 50. Just like Babylon would come out of the north to attack Jerusalem, a country would, eventually, come out of the north (v3) to attack Babylon (the Medes 51v11) and make it a desolate place (50v3). It was Babylon’s arrogance (50v31), their treatment of God’s house (51v11) and abuse of God’s people (v49) that would lead to their punishment and the empire would fall just as Assyria had done. And so the book of Jeremiah ends with a summary of events which confirmed that everything Jeremiah had prophesied for Jerusalem, both leaders and people, had become true.