Wed Aug 7

70 years of exile

there would be 4 more kings of Judah after Josiah. They are all evil.

in the first year of king Nebuchadnezzar

23 years into Jeremiah’s ministry, God has had enough.

Jeremiah 25:3–7 CSB

3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed. 4 The Lord sent all his servants the prophets to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed or even paid attention. 5 He announced, ‘Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from your evil deeds. Live in the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors long ago and forever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve them and to bow in worship to them, and do not anger me by the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm. 7 “ ‘But you have not obeyed me’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘with the result that you have angered me by the work of your hands and brought disaster on yourselves.’

3-14

For 23 years and more (300 years) God has sent prophets to the people, but they have not paid attention.

Notice the promise God had put before them for 300 years: v6. If you will not follow other gods…then I will do no harm.

v7 They have brought this on themselves.

God is doing what He said He would do

Jeremiah 25:15–16 CSB

15 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink from it. 16 They will drink, stagger, and go out of their minds because of the sword I am sending among them.”

Jeremiah 25:27 CSB

27 “Then you are to say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, as a result of the sword I am sending among you.’

Jeremiah 25:29 CSB

29 For I am already bringing disaster on the city that bears my name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth. This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.’

Jeremiah 25:15 CSB

15 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink from it.

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jer 25 29

jer 25 27-

Compare:

Deuteronomy 28:28–29 CSB

28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and mental confusion, 29 so that at noon you will grope as a blind person gropes in the dark. You will not be successful in anything you do. You will only be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will help you.

deut 28 28-29

Deuteronomy 28:28 CSB

28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and mental confusion,

Deuteronomy 28:30–32 CSB

30 You will become engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away from you and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will help you. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes grow weary looking for them every day. But you will be powerless to do anything.

deut

in , God forbid Jeremiah to marry…God’s grace to Jeremiah

Jeremiah 16:1–4 CSB

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Do not marry or have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For this is what the Lord says concerning sons and daughters born in this place as well as concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land: 4 They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the soil’s surface. They will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

Jeremiah meets opposition

Jeremiah is sent to many nations…all the nations that God is going to judge, but he starts with Judah.

He writes the first scroll through the scribe Baruch, but king Jehoiakim burns the scroll. Jeremiah rewrites the scroll through Baruch and God promises to bless Baruch.

God tells Jeremiah to break a flask in front of some elders and elders of the priests:

Jeremiah 19:10–15 CSB

10 “Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the people going with you, 11 and you are to proclaim to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be mended. They will bury the dead in Topheth because there is no other place for burials. 12 That is what I will do to this place—this is the declaration of the Lord—and to its residents, making this city like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become impure like that place Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to all the stars in the sky and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’ ” 14 Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple, and proclaimed to all the people, 15 “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to bring on this city—and on all its cities—every disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying my words.’ ”

10-15

v12 Topheth is the place God sent Jeremiah to break the flask. This was the place that the people brought their children to sacrifice by fire to Molech.

Pashhur, priest and chief governor in the Temple, struck Jeremiah (injured him)and put him in the stocks for a day. Jeremiah tells Pashhur that God will judge him.

Jeremiah deals with depression:

Jeremiah 20:7–18 CSB

7 You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived. You seized me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the time; everyone ridicules me. 8 For whenever I speak, I cry out, I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!” so the word of the Lord has become my constant disgrace and derision. 9 I say, “I won’t mention him or speak any longer in his name.” But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones. I become tired of holding it in, and I cannot prevail. 10 For I have heard the gossip of many people, “Terror is on every side! Report him; let’s report him!” Everyone I trusted watches for my fall. “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we might prevail against him and take our vengeance on him.” 11 But the Lord is with me like a violent warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed, an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten. 12 Lord of Armies, testing the righteous and seeing the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to you. 13 Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord, for he rescues the life of the needy from evil people. 14 May the day I was born be cursed. May the day my mother bore me never be blessed. 15 May the man be cursed who brought the news to my father, saying, “A male child is born to you,” bringing him great joy. 16 Let that man be like the cities the Lord demolished without compassion. Let him hear an outcry in the morning and a war cry at noontime 17 because he didn’t kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, her womb eternally pregnant. 18 Why did I come out of the womb to see only struggle and sorrow, to end my life in shame?

jer 20 7-

1st wave of Captivity

Note about the chronological Bible…it is not always correct in where it places Scripture.

is listed after everything I just explained. But look at .

Daniel 1:1–2 CSB

1 In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it. 2 The Lord handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him, along with some of the vessels from the house of God. Nebuchadnezzar carried them to the land of Babylon, to the house of his god, and put the vessels in the treasury of his god.

Daniel

Jeremiah 36:1 CSB

1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

Notice that the opposition from the king and the priests toward Jeremiah came after Nebuchadnezzar had laid siege to Jerusalem and taken the first wave of captives into exile.

This highlights the complete depravity of the nation.

The way God executes Judgement

God always honors the faith of His servants

Daniel

Daniel 9:2 CSB

2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.

The first thing I want you to notice about Daniel is that he goes through the entire reigns of Nebuchadnezzar and Balshazar, before he gets a copy of Jeremiah’s prophecy about the 70 year exile. Jeremiah sent a letter () to all of the exiles probably after the second wave. In this letter, the Lord told them that exile would be over after 70 years…God said: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. It is not until the Medes conquer the Babylonians, that Daniel realizes that there is a countdown to the end of the exile. This makes his decision to act by faith even more spectacular.

He was a eunuch

Daniel 1:3–9 CSB

3 The king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family and from the nobility— 4 young men without any physical defect, good-looking, suitable for instruction in all wisdom, knowledgeable, perceptive, and capable of serving in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the Chaldean language and literature. 5 The king assigned them daily provisions from the royal food and from the wine that he drank. They were to be trained for three years, and at the end of that time they were to attend the king. 6 Among them, from the Judahites, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 7 The chief eunuch gave them names; he gave the name Belteshazzar to Daniel, Shadrach to Hananiah, Meshach to Mishael, and Abednego to Azariah. 8 Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief eunuch not to defile himself. 9 God had granted Daniel kindness and compassion from the chief eunuch,

dan 1 3-

Although he had lost his home, Although he had been physically mutilated, Daniel determined to remain faithful to God’s law. His first act of faith was to obey the Lord in the matter of food.

Daniel 1:19 CSB

19 The king interviewed them, and among all of them, no one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they began to attend the king.

God reveals Himself to every nation who holds Judah captive.

God responds to the faith of Danial and his friends by placing them in positions where they would have access to the Kings of their captivity.

Every single king that ruled during the captivity had an encounter with God. God made it very clear that the captivity of His covenant people was His doing. This was not just another change of power by more powerful countries.

God judged each nation just as Jeremiah had prophesied.

God does not hear prayers of intercession.

Jeremiah 14:11–12 CSB

11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of these people. 12 If they fast, I will not hear their cry of despair. If they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. Rather, I will finish them off by sword, famine, and plague.”

Jeremiah 15:1 CSB

1 Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before me, my compassions would not reach out to these people. Send them from my presence, and let them go.

Jer 15

God has issued judgement and the time for repentance has passed. Only those who like Daniel, believed before that “judgement line was drawn” would remain under the Lord’s protection.

This line will be drawn again in the future:

Matthew 7:21–23 CSB

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’

Side Note: Second wave of exile: , is misplaced in the OYCB. Ezekiel is taken in the second wave.

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God gives hope to all who has trusted Him by faith

Jeremiah 23:1–8 CSB

1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” This is the Lord’s declaration. 2 “Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend my people: You have scattered my flock, banished them, and have not attended to them. I am about to attend to you because of your evil acts”—this is the Lord’s declaration. 3 “I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have banished them, and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them. They will no longer be afraid or discouraged, nor will any be missing.” This is the Lord’s declaration. 5 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration— “when I will raise up a Righteous Branch for David. He will reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. This is the name he will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness. 7 “Look, the days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other countries where I had banished them.’ They will dwell once more in their own land.”

jere 23