Jeremiah 37
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Fear God above all.
Listen to God above all.
Trust God above all.
I think these are the three big takeaways for us in Jeremiah 37-39, chapters that explain the seige and fall of Jerusalem.
In these chapters we return to the reign of Judah’s last king, King Zedekiah. Babylon is no longer a distant threat. Babylon is no longer on the doorstep. Judah can now feel Babylon’s breath on its neck.
The end is very near.
God’s people have been rebellious, but God is still very gracious. Judgement will come, but there is a way that people can escape with their lives—they can go out to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and surrender to him.
To most this sounds a lot like giving up, but in reality it is submission to the discipline of God.
If King Zedekiah and others continue to resist, the judgement of God will consume them.
If they submit, they will escape with their lives.
The question is, will they finally listen to God as He speaks through His prophet Jeremiah?
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Zedekiah Requests Prayer (vv. 1-5)
Zedekiah Requests Prayer (vv. 1-5)
1 Now Zedekiah the son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah, reigned as king in place of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. 2 But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord which He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. 3 Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please pray to the Lord our God on our behalf.” 4 Now Jeremiah was still coming in and going out among the people, for they had not yet put him in the prison. 5 Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army had set out from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who had been besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they lifted the siege from Jerusalem.
[EXP] When Jehoiachin (a.k.a., Coniah) rejected the Word of God, he was removed from Judah’s throne after only three months and was exiled to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar replaced him with his uncle, Mattaniah, who was renamed, Zedekiah.
Zedekiah was 21-years-old when he became king, but the kingdom he ruled was vastly diminished. When Nebuchadnezzar carried Jehoiachin off to Babylon…
13 He carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, just as the Lord had said. 14 Then he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land. 15 So he led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 All the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon.
Even though Zedekiah was young and faced a challenging task, we are not allowed to feel sorry for him…
19 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20 For through the anger of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
This rebellion against the king of Babylon was the chief way that Zedekiah, his servants, and the people of the land didn’t “listen to the words of the Lord which (YHWH) spoke through Jeremiah the prophet,” (Jer. 37:2).
Babylon was the instrument God was using to punish His people.
By resisting Babylon, God’s people were rebelling against God’s discipline.
By surrendering to Babylon, God’s people would be submitting to God’s discipline.
This is the Word of God that Jeremiah had been preaching.
This is the Word of God that Zedekiah, his servants, and the people of the land had ignored.
Q: Why do you think Zedekiah, his servants, and the people of the land refused to listen to this message?
People want to be independent rather than subservient. They want to rule themselves rather than be ruled by others.
While this desire for independence is not always bad, in this case it was because pursuing independence from Babylon was the same as pursuing independence from God. Remembering the words from Jeremiah 27:8…
8 “It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the Lord, “until I have destroyed it by his hand.
Despite refusing to listen to God’s word through Jeremiah, Zedekiah still comes to Jeremiah asking for prayer (Jer. 37:3).
Some have suggested that Zedekiah was mocking Jeremiah by making a sarcastic request for prayer rather than a genuine request for prayer, but Zedekiah is desperate.
Babylon has laid seige to Jerusalem.
No one is going in or out. No supplies are getting in or out. Food is getting scarce. Water is running dry. Things are desperate and so is Zedekiah.
He asks for prayer. He wants the Lord to listen to Jeremiah on his behalf, but will Zedekiah finally listen to what the Lord says through Jeremiah to him?
Verse 4 tells us that Jeremiah wasn’t yet imprisoned.
Verse 5 tells us that Pharaoh’s Egyptian army set out to confront the Babylonians who were laying seige to Jerusalem.
This was Pharoah Hophra, and he led his army at Zedekiah’s invitation. Ezekiel 17 says…
13 ‘He took one of the royal family and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land, 14 that the kingdom might be in subjection, not exalting itself, but keeping his covenant that it might continue. 15 ‘But he rebelled against him by sending his envoys to Egypt that they might give him horses and many troops. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Can he indeed break the covenant and escape? 16 ‘As I live,’ declares the Lord God, ‘Surely in the country of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, in Babylon he shall die. 17 ‘Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in the war, when they cast up ramps and build siege walls to cut off many lives.
Ezekiel delivered this Word while in Babylon.
Jeremiah will deliver the same message to Zedekiah in Jerusalem.
And for that Jeremiah will be imprisoned because Zedekiah won’t listen.
[ILLUS] A long time ago we sold some old pianos that had been in storage here at the church. One man came to pick one up and asked if I was the pastor. When I said I was he asked me to bless him.
I prayed with him and asked the Lord to bless him, but what if in that prayer I only asked the Lord to give that man the spirit of repentance?
What if I only asked the Lord to help him to listen to the Lord and obey the Lord?
Do you think that man would have said, “What about the blessing?”
[APP] James tell us that the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (James 5:16).
Zedekiah knew that, and he knew to turn to a man like Jeremiah when he needed prayer, but what Zedekiah wanted was the deliverance without the obedience, the blessing of God without listening to God.
We must not be like Zedekiah.
We must understand that living in obedience to God is its own blessing from God.
The rewards for obedience may not come in this life, but they will come.
[TS] Jeremiah understood this, and that’s why he continued to live in obedience to God even when it got him arrested.
Look at God’s reply to Zedekiah in vv. 6:-16…
God Replies to Zedekiah and Jeremiah is Imprisoned (vv. 6-16)
God Replies to Zedekiah and Jeremiah is Imprisoned (vv. 6-16)
6 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 7 “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Thus you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come out for your assistance is going to return to its own land of Egypt. 8 “The Chaldeans will also return and fight against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with fire.” ’ 9 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go. 10 ‘For even if you had defeated the entire army of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.’ ” 11 Now it happened when the army of the Chaldeans had lifted the siege from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, 12 that Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin in order to take possession of some property there among the people. 13 While he was at the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah was there; and he arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are going over to the Chaldeans!” 14 But Jeremiah said, “A lie! I am not going over to the Chaldeans”; yet he would not listen to him. So Irijah arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 Then the officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him, and they put him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which they had made into the prison. 16 For Jeremiah had come into the dungeon, that is, the vaulted cell; and Jeremiah stayed there many days.
[EXP] Zedekiah asked for prayer, and God answered. Through Jeremiah, He told Zedekiah the same thing He had said through Ezekiel, “Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help (Zedekiah) in the war...” (Ezek. 17:17).
When the Babylonians heard that the Egypt was marching toward Jerusalem, they lifted the siege on Jerusalem temporarily to deal with the Egyptian threat, but as soon as Babylon turned toward Egypt, the Egyptians ran back home.
It was during the temporary lifting of the siege that we get the scene from Jeremiah 34.
When it looked like Jerusalem was going to be overrun by the Babylonians, Zedekiah and others made a covenant with their slaves: if the slaves would help fight, they could have their freedom.
But when the Babylonian siege was momentarily lifted, Zedekiah and others broke the covenant they had made and defied God’s Word by refusing to release their slaves.
In response God said that He would release Zedekiah and the others to sword, pestilence, and famine.
Babylon will return.
The seige will resume.
And Jerusalem will fall.
Look at v. 10: How does God describe the certainty of Jerusalem’s fall?
God has Jeremiah declare the absolute certainty of this by saying that even if all the Chaldeans (i.e., Babylonians) were defeated and only the wounded of them were left, they would crawl out of their medical tents to burn the city.
God would see to it.
This was certainly not the answer to prayer that Zedekiah was looking for.
During the temporary lifting of the seige, Jeremiah went out to handle some business.
He was going to take possession of some property, but the captain of the guard, Irijah, assumed that he was going over to the Babylonians, which was tantamount to treason.
Q: What do you think of Irijah’s accusation? Do you think it was an understandable assumption given what Jeremiah had been preaching?
Jeremiah denied the accusation, but no one would listen to him. They thought his message was merely, “Let’s go over to the Chaldeans,” but that was only part of his message. The who message was “Let’s go over to the Chaldeans because the Chaldeans are the judgment of God on us, His rebellious people.”
When they heard the accusation against Jeremiah, the officials were angry with him. These were Zedekiah’s officials and not Jehoiachin’s officials that had been favorable to Jeremiah in ch. 36.
These officials saw Egypt as their savior and saw anyone preaching surrender to Babylon as an enemy.
They beat Jeremiah and put him in a dungeon within a house that had been turned into a prison.
[APP] It must’ve been terrible for Jeremiah to be falsely accused, unjustly arrested, unjustly beaten, and unjustly imprisoned.
The prison and the dungeon within it must’ve been terrible for Jeremiah, but to be thought of as a traitor to his people when he was actually a prophet of God must’ve been even worse.
When Jesus was falsely accused, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. That’s what Jeremiah had to do too. That’s what Peter says we should do as we follow the example of Jesus…
21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
This is what Jesus did as He died in our place upon the cross.
This is what we do as we follow Jesus in an unjust world.
We may be falsely accused, beaten, and imprisoned because we tell the truth of God’s Word.
The world may judge us dangerous and treasonous, but we don’t look to this world’s judgment of us.
We entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly.
[TS] Well, Zedekiah has ignored the Word of God from Jeremiah so far, but while Jeremiah is imprisoned Zedekiah secretly asks Jeremiah for a word from the Lord.
Will Zedekiah finally listen?
Look at vv. 17-21…
Zedekiah Asks Jeremiah for a Word from the Lord (vv. 17-21)
Zedekiah Asks Jeremiah for a Word from the Lord (vv. 17-21)
17 Now King Zedekiah sent and took him out; and in his palace the king secretly asked him and said, “Is there a word from the Lord?” And Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon!” 18 Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “In what way have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? 19 “Where then are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’? 20 “But now, please listen, O my lord the king; please let my petition come before you and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I may not die there.” 21 Then King Zedekiah gave commandment, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guardhouse and gave him a loaf of bread daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guardhouse.
[EXP] Zedekiah was a weak-willed ruler who flirted with believing Jeremiah but ultimately fear his own officials, the very officials that had Jeremiah beaten and imprisoned for many days.
Zedekiah should’ve stood up to his own officials and obeyed God, but he did not. So, when he asked Jeremiah for a word from the Lord, Jeremiah said there was a word from the Lord, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon!” (Jer. 37:17).
Again, this is certainly not the word that Zedekiah wanted to hear.
Jeremiah then asked Zedekiah why he had imprisoned him. The officials did it, but Zedekiah had to go along with it. It was ultimately his call.
Jeremiah argued that all he had down was tell Zedekiah the truth, while the false prophets who said, “The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land,” roamed free (Jer. 37:18-19).
How did it make sense for the prophet who had been proven true by Babylon’s seige to be imprisoned while the prophets who had been proven false by Babylon’s seige remained free?
By this point, the circumstances in Jerusalem had plainly proven that Jeremiah was the real deal while prophets who promised peace were not.
Jeremiah then pleads with Zedekiah to not be sent back to the dungeon.
Surprisingly, Zedekiah sends Jeremiah to the court of the guardhouse instead. He orders that Jeremiah be given a loaf of bread everyday from the bakers’ street while supplies last.
With the siege back on, the bread will soon be gone.
So will the water.
So will Zedekiah.
Q: Given everything that you know now, how would you describe Zedekiah in this chapter of Scripture?
Zedekiah was fearful.
He feared Babylon. He feared his own officials.
But he should’ve feared God above all.
Zedekiah was listening.
He listened to his fear. He listened to his officials.
But he should’ve listened to God above all.
Zedekiah was trusting.
He trusted in Egypt. He trusted in his own wisdom and the wisdom of the officials who counseled him to align with Egypt.
But he should’ve trusted God above all.
[APP] When we fear God above all, listen to Him above all, and trust Him above all, we obey Him above all.
If we could see the spiritual roots of Zedekiah’s disobedience, they would be…
…not fearing God above all.
…not listening to God above all.
…not trusting God above all.
Those spiritual roots are sure to grow disobedience to God.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
Lord willing, we will pick up with Zedekiah and Jeremiah next Wednesday in chapter 38.
[PRAYER]