iii. The LORD has made you priest: The second message was to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, who sent letters to the High Priest Zephaniah, telling him to stop and punish every man who is demented and considers himself a prophet, meaning Jeremiah (and perhaps others). We need 2 cookies to store this setting. This promise was made to ancient Jews under the Babylonian exile, but they express the unchanging heart of God toward His people. Do not say, “I am a youth” because God used Timothy as a young man, and through the Apostle Paul told him, Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; That you may be increased there, and not diminished: God wanted the Jewish people to multiply in Babylon, even as they multiplied in Egypt. “God had a special purpose in allowing the captivity of his people into Babylon. i. Demented: “Meshugga, in ecstatic rapture; such as appeared in the prophets, whether true or false, when under the influence, the one of God, the other of a demon. Jeremiah read a scroll of his collected prophecies to the new king Jehoiakim – and the king took the scroll, cut it in pieces, and threw it in the fire (Jeremiah 36:22-23). I will utter My judgments You can also change some of your preferences. Is her King no longer there?" iii. c. For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar: Certainly, Jeremiah didn’t feel like a fortified city or an iron pillar. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: a. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. i. God has a future and a hope for His people even when they suffer in exile, even when they hurt under deserved discipline or judgment. INTRODUCTION. Exile didn’t mean that God forgot about them or wanted to destroy them. They would die out with no descendants and never see the good that I will do for My people. He was regarded as a traitor and imprisoned (Jeremiah 37:11-16). Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10 19 w And I will give them one heart , and x a new spirit I will put within them . iv. Observe, 1. (7-22)1-6 To serve a turn, Jeremiah is sought out, and the captains ask for his assistance. The false prophets promised a quick return from exile. By this time Babylon had already invaded Judah and Jerusalem twice (605 B.C. i. It is the devil’s deception to rob God’s people of their sense of His future and a hope for them. a. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them: God gave Jeremiah the strength he needed – but he had to walk in it. These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. “St. This happened after Jeconiah: Jeconiah was taken to Babylon in 598 B.C. It was in the land of Benjamin but given over as a priestly city (Joshua 21:18). “Before you can make an impression upon another person’s heart, you must have an impression made upon your own soul. c. The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab: This would become a proverb among the Jews in Babylonian exile. He trusted God to provide for both him and his widowed mother, and God came through gloriously – it was 10,000 miles of miracle through Great Britain. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. Of that issue there could be no doubt. 17 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, 2 while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, 3 on the mountains in the open country. Therefore prepare yourself and arise, a. Ah, Lord GOD! We may request cookies to be set on your device. But so long as it remained, and they were held there as captives by the will of God, let them secure peace for themselves, by seeking the peace of the city, and that by prayer.” (Morgan), iv. It seems what God most objected to was the sense of superiority and favor that those who remained in Jerusalem and Judah held on to. Build houses and dwell in them: The Jewish people were in Babylon by the will of God, in His bringing judgment on Judah for their generations of rebellion against Him. Yet, proclaiming the good news of God’s rescue in Jesus the Messiah is also part of seeking the peace of the city. b. To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ First, he was young. He preached for 23 years but no one seemed to listen (Jeremiah 25:3). Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie. Born and raised in Belfast Ireland, at 21 years of age he left a good paying job in the middle of the Great Depression to tour around Great Britain on his bicycle and tell any who would listen about revival. Click on the different category headings to find out more. a. I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north: The idea is of a boiling cauldron that will tip over with its opening facing south. i. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, How Jeremiah came to the knowledge of this : Zephaniah read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah. i. Yet that was only as a postscript to the catastrophic fall of Jerusalem. The old Puritan commentator John Trapp showed how wrong the allegorical approach to Scripture can be, describing the interpretation of an ancient writer named Gregory: “Gregory moraliseth the text thus: Man’s mind is this pot; that which from the north sets it on fire is the devil, by inflaming it with evil lusts, and then he sets up his throne therein.”. ii. Behold, I will punish Shemaiah: God directed Jeremiah to respond with a prophetic declaration against Shemaiah. Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking. Because many of his prophecies have echoes and hints of previous prophets of Israel, it seems that Jeremiah grew up knowing God’s word. i. “His reluctance may have been based on feelings of personal inadequacy when confronted with the almost hopeless task of recalling apostate Judah to a state of true repentance. To build and to plant.”. a. Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah: When the letter form Shemaiah came to Jerusalem and Zephaniah, Jeremiah heard the letter exalting himself and criticizing Jeremiah. iii. Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. Their seeking and God’s revealing were part of their future and hope. Their fate was to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations. Yet God knew that Jeremiah had the personality and character to fulfill this call as the years went on. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. b. Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha. The significance of the branch of an almond tree was important in two ways. “Jeremiah had foretold the ultimate overthrow of Babylon with no uncertain sound. Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking. Against the kings of Judah, Click to enable/disable _ga - Google Analytics Cookie. b. Do not be afraid of their faces, “Literally, the Bible says Nebuchadnezzar ‘roasted’ them, which was the proper punishment for treason in Hammurabi’s Code.” (Ryken). “Do not envy the state of Zedekiah who sits on the throne of David, nor that of the people who are now in the land whence ye have been carried captive.” (Clarke). The letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem: Jeremiah 29 contains a letter from Jeremiah (writing as the LORD’s prophet) to the exiles in Babylon. Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth: Jeremiah was probably anywhere from 17 to 20 years old at this time. Why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth: Shemaiah wanted Zephaniah to do everything he could to oppose and discredit Jeremiah, denying his message that they would be in exile for a long time and should make the best of it. iv. Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. “Most likely, in expectation of a brief sojourn in captivity, they were wary of acquiring houses, land, and even children, since these would be encumbrances in the event of a return journey to Jerusalem.” (Cundall), ii. He would hold out against all comers for over forty years, outdoing any fortress under siege.” (Kidner), ©2018 David Guzik – No distribution beyond personal use without permission. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: He wrote a popular book about his adventures in faith – so popular that some youth groups banned the book – they were afraid that their youth might take off on their own bikes without really being called by God. They did not know or did not remember His thoughts toward them, so God wanted to state them in writing through Jeremiah’s letter. ii. Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. “The exile did last seventy years. Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, one of the ordinary priests, dwelling in Anathoth of Benjamin (Jer 1:1), not the Hilkiah the high priest who discovered the book of the law (2Ki 22:8); had he been the same, the designation would have been "the priest", or "the high priest". c. Josiah… Jehoiakim… Zedekiah: In this line of succession of the Kings of Judah, some are left out (Jehoahaz in 2 Chronicles 36:1-2 and Jehoiachin in 2 Chronicles 36:8-9). 21:1, ch. If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here: We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. 3. After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you: As previously promised by Jeremiah, the captivity in Babylon would not go beyond seventy years. Prayer and good works of all sorts are ways to seek the peace [shalom] of the city. b. “The name Jeremiah was common in Judah. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they have not heeded My words, says the LORD, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the LORD. Second, his message was hard to hear. Please see our Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. The message was that judgment through the Babylonians was inevitable – and they must prepare for it and submit to it. The ‘almond tree’ is saqed and God is ‘watching’ (soqed) over his word to fulfill it.” (Feinberg). As God touched the mouth of Isaiah at his call to the office of prophet, He also touched the mouth of Jeremiah (though in a different way). In this general period Jeremiah was chained and flogged (Jeremiah 20:2), and survived a close brush with death (Jeremiah 26:10-11). “Ah, Lord GOD! “The prophet had the double duty of putting down their false hopes, and sustaining their right expectations. In Hebrews 8:8,9, this place is quoted as the sum of the covenant of grace made with believers in Jesus Christ. Secondly, the Hebrew word for almond tree is close to and derived from the Hebrew word for watchful, and this word is used in God’s response to Jeremiah. Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. Johanan desires Jeremiah to ask counsel of God. “These verses contain a play on words that is lost in English but is vital for the force of the vision. and 598 B.C.) If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here: We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Jeremiah read a scroll of his collected prophecies to the new king Jehoiakim – and the king took the scroll, cut it in pieces, and threw it in the fire (Jeremiah 36:22-23). 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