Prophet, Prophecy, Prophesy (Part 4)
(This “Blog Post” - or what began as one - turned into 20 pages in a Word document, so I broke it down into 4 blog posts that I am sharing over the 4 weeks so as not to overwhelm you with too much information all at once. This is the final post, part 4.)
Here is what I wrote out as I studied today. In this list you will see what God told Jeremiah was:
1) The sin of the Israelites
2) What the consequence was or would be of that sin
3) Who is responsible for those consequences
4) The remedy to their situation
5) Jeremiah’s feelings as a prophet and God’s response to those feelings
1) Israelite’s Sin:
Here is what the LORD has against the Israelites up to chapter six:
They have forsaken Me 1:16, 2:13, 2:19
The burned incense to other gods and worshipped the work of their own hands 1:16, 10:2-16
They were (past tense) holiness to the LORD 2:3
They have gone far from Me 2:5
Followed idols, loved aliens (foreign gods) or played the harlot (with other gods) 2:5, 2:20, 2:21, 2:25, 3:1
Defiled My land, polluted the land with wickedness 2:7, 3:2
Those who handle the law did not know Me 2:8
Rulers transgressed against Me 2:8, 5:5
Prophets prophesied by Baal (or falsely prophesied) 2:8, 5:12-13, 5:31
Prophets walked after things that don’t profit 2:8
My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit 2:11
Forsaken the fountain of living water (God) 2:13
Hewn for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water 2:13
The fear of God is not in you 2:19, 8:7
Your sword has devoured your prophets, On your skirts is found the blood of the lives of the poor innocents (murdering God’s prophets or offering babies to gods like Molech) 2:30, 2:34
My people have forgotten Me (The LORD their God) days without number 2:32, 3:21
You have spoken and done evil things, as you were able. 3:5
Seeing I had given Israel a certificate of divorce, Judah also did not fear, but went and played the harlot also committing adultery with stones and trees. (Idols and foreign gods) 3:8-9
Judah did not turn to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense. 3:10
You have dealt treacherously (deceitfully, faithlessly) with Me. 3:20, 5:11
They have perverted (bend, twist, distort) their ways. 3:21
She has been rebellious against Me. 4:17
They are foolish. 5:4
They lie in wait as one who sets snares; they set a trap; they catch men. 5:26
Their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and grown rich. They surpass the deeds of the wicked. 5:27-28a, 8:5
They do not plead the cause of the fatherless; yet they prosper. (Rich but don’t care for orphaned children) 5:28
They don’t defend the rights of the needy. 5:28
She is full of oppression in her midst. 6:6b
She wells up with wickedness. 6:7
Violence and plundering are in her. 6:7
Before Me continually are grief and wounds. 6:7
They were not ashamed when they committed abominations (practices, behaviors and attitudes that are utterly detestable and morally repugnant to God) 6:15, 8:12
They steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, walk after other gods whom they don’t know and then stand before God. 7:8-10
I didn’t command offerings and sacrifices when I brought your fathers out of Egypt. I said, “Obey My voice and I will be your God and you shall be My people. Walk in all the ways I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.” They didn’t listen or obey, but followed the counsels and dictates of their evil hearts going backwards not forward. They stiffened their necks and did worse than their fathers. 7:21-26 (Went their own way) 8:6 (Rejected the Word of the LORD) 8:9
The children of Judah have done evil in My sight. They have set their abominations (gods) in the house called by My name to pollute it. 7:30
Chose death over life 8:3
Refused to repent or return 8:5-6
Everyone is given to covetousness (greed or unjust gain) 8:10
Everyone deals falsely 8:10
They became dull-hearted (ba’ar = senseless, stupid, devoid of spiritual understanding. Spiritually numb, complacent, and lacking ability to grasp divine truth) 10:14
2) Consequence:
Here’s what the LORD said would happen (or did happen) as a result:
Your OWN wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. 2:19
I will bring charges against you 2:9
I will bring charges against your children’s children 2:9
The LORD has rejected your trusted allies, and you will not prosper by them. 2:37
Drought. The showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain. Spring showers were viewed as a blessing from God for obedience. 3:3
The destroyer of the nations is on his way….to make your land desolate, lay your cities to waste, without inhabitants, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us. 4:7-8
The heart of the king shall perish, the priests shall be astonished and the prophets shall wonder. (even the kings and leaders of your land will be disheartened and give up hope) 4:9
The whole land shall be desolate (stripped of life and human habitation, reduced to wilderness. Desolation so severe it is marked by profound silence); yet I will not make a full end. 4:26b
Because I have spoken, I have purposed and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it. 4:28b
Every city shall be forsaken, and not a man shall dwell in it. 4:29
Everyone will be torn to pieces because their transgressions are many; their backslidings have increased. 5:6b
Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 5:14
I will bring a nation whose language you don’t know against you from afar. You will not know what they say. Mighty men shall eat your harvest and your bread rather than your sons and daughters. They will eat up your flocks, herds, vines and fig trees. They will destroy your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword. 5:15-17
I will certainly bring calamity on these people - the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor my law, but rejected it. 6:19 Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, not your sacrifices sweet to Me. 6:20
I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. Fathers, sons, neighbors and friends will perish. 6:20b
When Jeremiah vividly described the approaching, merciless army coming from the north (the Babylonians), “We have heard report of it; our hands grow feeble, anguish takes hold of us, pain, fear on every side.” He told Israel to dress in sackcloth and roll in ashes, mourning bitterly for the plunder that will come suddenly. 6:24-26
God called Jeremiah an assayer (a tester of metals), and the people unrefined, base metals. People will call the Israelites rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them. (Since they refused to be purified) 6:27-30
Because you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk before gods you don’t know, then stand before Me in this house, called by My name, I will do what I did in Shiloh because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 7:8-15
Joshua 18:1: The Israelites gather at Shiloh to set up the Tabernacle and divide the remaining land among the twelve tribes.
Judges 21:19: It is described as a major place of annual religious pilgrimage.
1 Samuel 1-4: Recounts the story of Hannah dedicating her son Samuel to the Lord at Shiloh, and the disastrous battle where the Ark was captured and the city fell.
Psalm 78:60-61: Describes how God abandoned His dwelling place at Shiloh and gave His strength into captivity.
Jeremiah 7:12-14: The prophet Jeremiah references the ruins of Shiloh as a warning to Jerusalem
They make cakes and drinks for other gods to provoke God to anger, so don’t pray for them or intercede for them for I will not hear you. 7:16-18
My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place - on man and on beast, and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. It will burn and not be quenched. 7:20
They shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the priests, princes, prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Their bones will not be buried, but will be like refuse on the face of the earth because they chose death rather than life. 8:1-3
I will consume them. No grapes on the vine, no figs on the tree, all the things I’ve given them shall pass away. 8:13
I will punish all who ARE circumcised with the uncircumcised….For….all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. 9:25-26
3) Responsible Party:
Was it GOD who brought trouble on you?
“Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God when He led you in the way? And now why do you take the road to Egypt. 2:17-18
Your OWN wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and the fear of Me is not in you,” Says the LORD God of hosts. 2:19
“For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds (set you free from slavery) and you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ (you claimed you wouldn’t sin), when on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down, playing the harlot (in this good life I gave you, you’re cheating on Me after I gave you good things). 2:20
I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality (I made you a good seed with good moral qualities). How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine? (How have you turned to foreign gods)” 2:21
“You wash yourself with lye (nitre-mineral acid), and use much soap (You try to cleanse yourself by natural methods) but your iniquity is marked before Me,” Says the LORD. 2:22
“How can you say, ‘I am not polluted”.....”See your way in the valley; know what you have done.” (Seriously, I see what you’ve done and you know what you’ve done.) 2:23
But you said, ‘There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens (foreigners), and after them I will go.’ (You’ve said, “I can’t help it. I want what I want”) 2:25 ‘As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, so is the house of Israel ashamed.’ (You aren’t ashamed of what you’ve done. You’re only ashamed you got called out.) 2:26
‘Where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble.’ 2:28
‘Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me.’ 2:29
‘In vain I have chastened your children; they received no correction.’ 2:30
I have not found it by secret search, but plainly on all these things. (Your sin is SO OBVIOUS, all of it is done out in the open) Yet you say, ‘Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will plead My case against you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ (Since you insist on your innocence, I will lay out before you ALL of your sins.) 2:34b-35
You have a harlot’s forehead (you don’t even blush); you refuse to be ashamed. 3:3
And I said, after she (Israel) had done all these things, ‘Return to me.” But she did not return.” 3:7
Your ways and your doings have procured these things for you. This is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart. 4:18
My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge. 4:23
O LORD….You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have refused to return. 5:3
When I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. 5:7
When the people complain asking why the LORD our God does these things to them, answer them: “Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your lands, so you shall serve aliens in a land that is not your own. Do you not fear Me? This people has a defiant and rebellious heart; they have revolted and departed. They do not say in their hearts, “Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of harvest.” Your iniquities have turned these good things away and your sins have withheld good from you. 5:18-25
After talking about all the ways the Israelites are greedy and deceitful and don’t take care of the poor or the orphans it says, “And My People love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?” (We in America discuss the plight of the poor and the oppressed, but in the end, to do something about it would cost us personally. While we say we don’t love the mistreatment of others, the society we have created and live comfortably in shows our love for this way of life. I wonder if that is what the LORD meant by “and My people love to have it so.”) 5:26-31
This city is to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst. She wells up with wickedness. Violence and plundering are in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds. 6:6-7
I will certainly bring calamity on these people - the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor My law but rejected it. 6:19
You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. Therefore, say to them, “This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. So the LORD has forsaken the generation of His wrath.” 7:27-29
They have built the high places of Trophet (pagan altars and shrines located in the Valley of Ben Hinnom used to worship foreign gods, most notably by sacrificing children by fire) to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my heart. The days are coming when Trophet will be called the Valley of Slaughter. The corpses of people will be food for the birds and beasts and no one will stop them. There will be no more gladness, no more grooms or brides, for the land shall be desolate. 7:31-34
They hold fast to deceit. Refused to return. No man repented of his wickedness. Everyone turned to his own course. They rejected the word of the LORD. They were not ashamed. 8:5-12
The shepherds have become dull-hearted (ba’ar = senseless, stupid, devoid of spiritual understanding. Spiritually numb, complacent, and lacking ability to grasp divine truth) and have not sought the LORD; THEREFORE they shall not prosper. 10:21
4) Remedy:
How to get back in right standing with God.
‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,” says the LORD; “I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God…..and you have not obeyed My voice.” 3:12-13 “I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” 3:15 “Then Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all nations shall be gathered to it, and to the name of the LORD. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.” 3:17 Judah and Israel will come together out of the land of the north to the land I have given as an inheritance. 3:18
“Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding (wandering into sin and becoming spiritually lukewarm).” 3:22
(Honest confession) “For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.” 3:25 “If you return to Me, if you will put your abominations (idols and false pagan practices) out of My sight, THEN you shall not be moved. 4:1 In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory. 4:2
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your hearts. (Radical, internal devotion. Outward rituals are useless without inward purity. God wants them to “cut away” stubborn pride, hidden sins and attachment to false idols. Failure to do so would ignite a consuming fire of divine judgment) 4:4
O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. 4:13
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; If you can find a man, if there is anyone who executes judgment, who seeks the truth, and I will pardon her. (God challenges Jeremiah to find just ONE person in Jerusalem who acts with integrity. Finding no one, God laments that even those who swear oaths in His name do so with deceitful hearts.) 5:1-2
Be instructed, O Jerusalem, Lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited. 6:8
Thus says the LORD, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ 6:16
(This reminds me of Isaiah 30:15 “For thus says the LORD God, the Holy One of Israel: ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.’ But you would not.”)
I set a watchman over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.” 6:17
If you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, then I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Execute judgement.
Do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless and the widow.
Do not shed innocent blood.
Do not walk after other gods.
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD. 9:23-24
Do not learn the way of the Gentiles and their idols. The customs of the people are futile. Any god who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish. Their idols are falsehood with no breath in them, futile and work of errors. 10:1-16
5) Jeremiah’s feelings and God’s response
Insecurity:
“Ah, LORD God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” 1:6
The Bible doesn’t state Jeremiah’s exact age, but biblical scholars estimate he was between 13-20 years old when God called him to be a prophet (around 627 BC) Jeremiah protested saying he was too young. His ministry lasted over 40 years and he served up until the fall of Jerusalem.
Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 1:7
Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you. 1:8, 1:17b
Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 1:9
I have set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant. 1:10
I am ready to perform My word. 1:12
I will utter My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. 1:16
Prepare yourself and arise and speak to them all that I command you. 1:17
I made YOU this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, bronze walls against the whole land - against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. They WILL fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you to deliver you. 1:18-19
Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem (followed by everything He told Jeremiah to say) 2:1 and on…
Betrayal:
“Ah, LORD God! Surely You have greatly deceived these people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.” 4:10
Jeremiah cries out to God, frustrated because false prophets were claiming God promised them peace (Shalom), but Jeremiah sees imminent disaster (a sword) coming. 4:10-13
Say, “Wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved.” 4:14
“She has been rebellious against Me.” Say, “Your ways and your doings have procured these things for you. This is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart.” (Your rebellion has made these things for you) 4:17b-18
Distress:
“O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 4:19
Jeremiah was greatly distressed and full of sorrow about the impending destruction of Jerusalem. 4:19
My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge. 4:23
The whole land shall be desolate (stripped of life and human habitation, reduced to wilderness. Desolation so severe it is marked by profound silence); yet I will not make a full end. 4:26b
Because I have spoken, I have purposed and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it. 4:28b
Every city shall be forsaken, and not a man shall dwell in it. 4:29
Frustration:
“To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it. Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD, I am weary of holding it in.” 6:10-11a
Jeremiah is obviously frustrated hearing from God about the sins of the Israelites but not having anyone listen to him. God responds by saying, I’m pouring it out on all of them. From the greatest to the least because EVERYONE is guilty.
I will pour it out on the children outside, the young men, the husband, the wife, the aged. I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land; from the least to the greatest. 6:11b-12
Everyone is given to covetousness, and from the prophet to the priest, everyone deals falsely. 6:13
Prophets have falsely said there is peace when there is no peace. 6:14, 8:11
Sorrow / Discouragement:
“I would comfort myself in sorrow; my heart is faint within me…..why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images - with foreign idols?...summer is ended and we are not saved! For the daughter of my people (Israel, specifically southern kingdom of Judah) I am hurt. I am mourning…..Why is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?...Oh that my eyes were a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night……Oh that I had a lodging place for travelers; that I might leave my people and go from them.” 8:18-9:2
Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit;.....therefore….Behold (watch) I will refine (to smelt, test, or purify metal in a furnace. The intense process of melting down raw ore with extreme heat so that the precious metals like gold or silver separate from the unwanted impurities or dross) them and try them. 9:6
Call the people to mourn and wail for death has come to kill off everyone, even the children and young men in the streets 9:17-22
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.
Humbled:
“O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walk to direct his own steps. O LORD, correct me, but with justice; Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.”
Well….the coffee shop is closing, so if you want to know how God handled this one….look it up yourself. Isn’t the Bible so interesting?!