Intro to Jeremiah
Notes
Transcript
Jeremiah is the largest of the prophetic books, and in the Hebrew Scriptures, it is placed before Isaiah and Ezekiel.
Jeremiah’s book is the most autobiographical of all of the prophets, so we know more about Jeremiah than the other prophets.
Jeremiah’s book is a little harder to read through and understand, because it is not written chronologically. There are messages to the different kings of Israel that are out of order with when they reigned.
And, by and large, the book seems very repetitive with the messages of judgment and the coming overthrow of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.
Because it is harder to read, and the message is overall very bleak, many neglect this book.
However, throughout the book are little gems of verses that are familiar to many of us. In fact, there are around 90 different verses in the New Testament that allude to the writings of Jeremiah. Some are well-known to us because of Jesus’ ministry. Others are well-known encouragements to us.
Matthew, the author of the gospel written primarily to the Jews, alludes to Jeremiah often.
“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
A quote from Jeremiah 31.15.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
An allusion to Jeremiah 6.16.
“It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Jeremiah 7.11.
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Jeremiah 31.31-34.
Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?
Jeremiah 5:21 “Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:”
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
Jeremiah 23.18.
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.
Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.
Hebrews speaking of the new covenant which is from Jeremiah 31.
Other favorite passages from Jeremiah include
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
There are many pearls in Jeremiah which we would do well to know and meditate upon. As we go through this study, may we find many and learn what the Lord has for us.
Who was Jeremiah?
Who was Jeremiah?
We know more of Jeremiah than most other prophets because he share his own thoughts, struggles, and life experiences with us through this book.
Jeremiah was likely born around 646 BC. He was from the town of Anathoth a town about 2 miles north of Jerusalem. It was a town belonging to the Levites, and he was the son of a priest, though we do not know that he served as a priest himself. He never married, because God forbade him to marry as a visible reinforcement of his message. His closest friend was likely Baruch, the scribe who wrote down his messages.
He lived until about 585 BC, about 63 years. He began his ministry in 626 BC, the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign.
From his self disclosures, we find a man who was distraught over the messages he had to deliver, for though his people deserved what was coming, he took no pleasure in their suffering and death. Even though they opposed him, ridiculed him, beat him, and imprisoned him, he cared deeply for his people. He was truly, as many call him, the weeping prophet.
What is a prophet?
What is a prophet?
Our word for prophet is taken from the Greek word, προφήτης, which is someone who speaks forth.
This is the word that the Jewish translators of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek used for the Hebrew word, navi’.
A Navi’ was someone commissions to speak with the full authority on behalf of another. They were men chosen by God, and given authority to pass along his messages.
Another word used for prophets is mal’akh, a messenger.
Another term used is ro’eh, seer, or someone who sees and conveys reality from God’s perspective.
Yet another term used for prophets is hozeh, or visionary.
Prophets were men chosen by God to carry his message, and convey it with full authority to the people. They would relay visions and dreams and use tangible examples as directed by God.
For example,
The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.
The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,
and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
“Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.
See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”
The word of the Lord came to me again: “What do you see?” “I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.”
The Lord said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.
I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the Lord. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah.
I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.
“Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.
Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land.
They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
Where?
Where?
Jeremiah’s ministry was primarily in Jerusalem, though he spoke to all of Judah, Israel, and those in captivity in Babylon. At the end of his life, he was taken to Egypt where he died with the Jewish community that fled from Jerusalem after the murder of the Babylonian appointed governor.
When did this take place?
When did this take place?
Here is a timeline showing some of the major events during Jeremiah’s ministry.
Timeline
Timeline
Why?
Why?
At first glance, you would say Jeremiah is a book of judgment, with a couple glimmers of hope.
But, there is more to Jeremiah than meets the eye.
Yes, there are more messages of judgment, doom and gloom in Jeremiah than there are messages of hope.
But the hope is there, and in fact, the arrangement of Jeremiah points to hope.
D.A. Dorsey, Literary Structure of the Old Testament
A Handbook on Jeremiah Structure and Content
A. God will punish Judah (1:1–12:17)
B. The LORD reveals his plans for the fall of Judah (13:1–20:18)
C. God will judge and punish Judah and Jerusalem (21:1–29:32)
D. God will bring his people back to their land (30:1–33:26)
E. Jeremiah delivers messages to Zedekiah and the Rechabites (34:1–35:19)
F. Jeremiah suffers because he delivers the LORD’S message (36:1–45:5)
G. God will punish the nations (46:1–51:64)
H. An appendix on the fall of Jerusalem (52:1–34)
First section A.,
Judah condemned
Israel condemned
disaster from the north
Repent!
disaster from the north
condemnation of Israel
Condemnation of Judah
Section B.
Loincloth
Drought
not going to weddings, mourning and feasting
judgment on individual behavior
Sabbath
Potter’s house
Breaking the clay jar
Section C.
condemnation of kings and false prophets
two baskets of figs
God’s cup of wrath
Religious leaders reject
Message of yoke
Hananiah the false prophet
Message to the exiles, and opposition from prophets
Section D
Hope, restoration, New Covenant
Section E similar to C
messages to Kings Jehoiakim and Zedekiah
Section F similar to B
Jeremiahs suffering because leaders and people rejected God’s message and therefore deserve punishment (fall of Jerusalem at the center)
Section G similar to A
This time the disaster from the north is against the nations
Section H Fall of Jerusalem
Why?
Why?
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
The people sinned.
Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle.
So God was judging them, and sending disaster.
The Lord said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.
I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the Lord. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah.
I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.
Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
“ ‘The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it.
They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.
So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.
“ ‘At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves.
They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped. They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like dung lying on the ground.
Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the Lord Almighty.’
God wanted them to Return to repent.
Go, proclaim this message toward the north: “ ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever.
“Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” “Yes, we will come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
“Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely.
And when the people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’
Therefore this is what the Lord says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.
When they do repent, it will be times of refreshing the new covenant will be made.
After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Again, God is not looking for outward repentance. He is looking for true repentance which is a change of heart.
A central theme in all of this is the heart. Heart is found 50 times in 46 verses.
In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the Lord.
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it.
Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Judgment and punishment have a purpose. To bring us to repentance.
Repentance - not regret for getting caught, or change because of the punishment necessitates a new course of action. For example, Judah went from Assyria to Egypt in looking for support. They changed their gods from one idol to another.
Repentance - Not an outward show, or simply saying we repent, like when Judah repented for not releasing Hebrew slaves, only to turn around and take them back.
Repentance - Not blaming the situations, but owning the full responsibility for sin, and circumcising the heart. Seeking the One who changes the heart.
