Jeremiah 43:8-44:30
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING]
[PRAYER]
[CONTEXT]
[CIT]
[PROP]
[INTER]
[TS]
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
#1: The Word to the Rebellious Remnant (43:8-13)
#1: The Word to the Rebellious Remnant (43:8-13)
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, 9 “Take some large stones in your hands and hide them in the mortar in the brick terrace which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of some of the Jews; 10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am going to send and get Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and I am going to set his throne right over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his canopy over them. 11 “He will also come and strike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword. 12 “And I shall set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. So he will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. 13 “He will also shatter the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.” ’ ”
[EXP] These people disobeyed the Lord in order to escape Nebuchadnezzar, but by fleeing to Egypt they ran headlong into the path of destruction.
[INTER] What do you think v. 12 means when it says Nebuchadnezzar will “wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment”?
ESV, CSB, NLT
ESV “he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin”
CSB “He will clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks lice off his clothes”
NLT “He will pick clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks fleas fro his cloak”
He will ravage the land of Egypt easy peasy lemon squeazy.
NASB, NKJV, NIV
NASB “he will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment”
NKJV “he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment”
NIV “As a shepherd wraps his garment around him, so will he wrapt Egypt around himself”
He will put on (i.e., conquer) Egypt as easy as putting on his shirt in the morning.
The destruction of the wicked will not be hard for God.
[APP] Proverbs 14:12 “12 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Making our own path instead of following God’s path is disobedience, and disobeying the Lord never leads to salvation but always to ruin. We should always obey the Lord, but the only rescue from disobedience is repentance.
[TS]...
#2: The Dullness of the Rebellious Remnant (44:1-10)
#2: The Dullness of the Rebellious Remnant (44:1-10)
1 The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, those who were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and the land of Pathros, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are in ruins and no one lives in them, 3 because of their wickedness which they committed so as to provoke Me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and to serve other gods whom they had not known, neither they, you, nor your fathers. 4 ‘Yet I sent you all My servants the prophets, again and again, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate.” 5 ‘But they did not listen or incline their ears to turn from their wickedness, so as not to burn sacrifices to other gods. 6 ‘Therefore My wrath and My anger were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so they have become a ruin and a desolation as it is this day. 7 ‘Now then thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, “Why are you doing great harm to yourselves, so as to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, from among Judah, leaving yourselves without remnant, 8 provoking Me to anger with the works of your hands, burning sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you are entering to reside, so that you might be cut off and become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9 “Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 “But they have not become contrite even to this day, nor have they feared nor walked in My law or My statutes, which I have set before you and before your fathers.” ’
[EXP] This rebellious remnant should've learned from Judah’s history that rebellion leads to ruin. But rather than learn from Judah’s destruction, they decided to follow the well-worn path that leads to destruction.
[INTER] Where do we see people today following well-worn paths that lead to destruction?
Debt, divorce, transgender confusion, marriage confusion, etc.
[APP] All these are well-worn paths leading to destruction that we see people following today. Let us commit to obeying God and doing things his way.
[TS]...
#3: The End of the Rebellious Remnant (44:11-14)
#3: The End of the Rebellious Remnant (44:11-14)
11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am going to set My face against you for woe, even to cut off all Judah. 12 ‘And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have set their mind on entering the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword and meet their end by famine. Both small and great will die by the sword and famine; and they will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach. 13 ‘And I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine and with pestilence. 14 ‘So there will be no refugees or survivors for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to reside there and then to return to the land of Judah, to which they are longing to return and live; for none will return except a few refugees.’ ”
[EXP] This rebellious remnant will be reduced to a few fleeing escapees.
[ILLUS] What is ironic about the rebellious remnant’s desire to return and live in the land of Judah (v. 14)?
If they had obeyed God, they would be living in the land. They wanted to live in God’s land without obeying God.
[APP] Many people want to go to Heaven without obeying the God of Heaven.
[TS]...
#4: The Blasphemy of the Rebellious Remnant (44:15-23)
#4: The Blasphemy of the Rebellious Remnant (44:15-23)
15 Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, 16 “As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you! 17 “But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune. 18 “But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine.” 19 “And,” said the women, “when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?” 20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and women—even to all the people who were giving him such an answer—saying, 21 “As for the smoking sacrifices that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your forefathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them and did not all this come into His mind? 22 “So the Lord was no longer able to endure it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations which you have committed; thus your land has become a ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 “Because you have burned sacrifices and have sinned against the Lord and not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law, His statutes or His testimonies, therefore this calamity has befallen you, as it has this day.”
[EXP] The queen of heaven was Ishtar, an Assyrian and Babylonian goddess also called Ashtoreth and Astarte. The people stubbornly held to their idolatry, and Jeremiah rightly promised them calamity.
[INTER] What do we make of the emphasis on the women in this passage? What do we make of the role of the men in this passage?
[APP] When God’s people are at their best, God’s men are leading God’s people in obedience to God.
As God’s men, we must make sure that we are living to please God before we live to please anyone else.
As God’s men, we must make sure that we lead God’s people to understand that every good and perfect gift comes from him.
[TS]…
#6: The Sign to the Rebellious Remnant (44:24-30)
#6: The Sign to the Rebellious Remnant (44:24-30)
24 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt, 25 thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as follows: ‘As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, “We will certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” Go ahead and confirm your vows, and certainly perform your vows!’ 26 “Nevertheless hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are living in the land of Egypt, ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ says the Lord, ‘never shall My name be invoked again by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord God lives.” 27 ‘Behold, I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will meet their end by the sword and by famine until they are completely gone. 28 ‘Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number. Then all the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to reside there will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs. 29 ‘This will be the sign to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for harm.’ 30 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am going to give over Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt to the hand of his enemies, to the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave over Zedekiah king of Judah to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life.’ ”
[EXP] God told his people to go on in the wickedness they stubbornly refused to give up but he was going to destroy them for it. This was his judgment upon them. The sign of it's approach would be Pharaoh Hophra given over to his enemies.
Hophra meant “the heart of Ra endures.” He was handed over to his enemies in 570 B.C. when he was deposed by his general, Amasis.
[INTER] How do you think the rebellious remnant responded when Pharaoh Hophra was deposed?
They didn’t listen to Jeremiah before, so they probably thought he was wrong about Pharaoh Hophra too.
[APP] Those committed to rebellion will always find a “good” reason to rebel. Let us understand that no good reason exists for disobeying God.
[TS]...
Conclusion
Conclusion
In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus said…
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
He is the small gate. He is the narrow way that leads to life. Only pay following him—the one who never sinned but paid for our sins—will we find salvation.
Any other path leads to destruction.
[PRAYER]