Breaking the Law

In chapters 11-20 we are going to see Jeremiah in a more personal way. We will see hm respond to persecution and wrestle with God. This new section begins with the revelation that God’s people had broken covenant with Him. That’s what we will consider this evening.

1. The Covenant is Broken (1-13).

A. Jeremiah is to remind the people of the covenant given at Sinai (1-5).

Jeremiah is to remind the people of the covenant God gave the people when He delivered them from Egypt. God wants them to remember the suffering He delivered them from. The suffering of Egypt is also called the “iron furnace” in Deut. 4:20. After delivering the people from Egypt God made a covenant with them through Moses. The covenant contained promises to deliver them to a land flowing with milk and honey and to protect them (Exodus 19-24). The covenant also contained curses. If the people broke the covenant, they could expect these curses to be poured upon them (Deut. 28:15-68).

There is no new covenant given here. There was a revival of the covenant underneath Josiah. When Josiah began his reforms he was simply taking the people back to the original Mosaic Covenant (2 Kings 23). God tells Jeremiah to remind the people of His Word. Jeremiah replies with a hearty “Amen!” (So be it Lord!)

We need to remember as Christians all we are doing is reminding people of what God has already said. We are not inventing new ideas or commands. God has spoken but too often the world forgets. When the Lord asks us to remind His people what He has said we should be willing to give Him a hearty “Amen!” like Jeremiah did.

B. Jeremiah is to remind the people that their ancestors broke the covenant (6-8).

Jeremiah’s ministry was public. The Lord commands him to preach in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. He was to call the people back to the covenant. Remember that Josiah was king during the early part of Jeremiah’s ministry. Josiah discovered the Law and tried to restore obedience to it (2 Kings 22, 23). Jeremiah’s ministry sought to accomplish the same thing King Josiah did. There was a widespread attempt to bring the people back to obedience to the covenant. His preaching including reminding the people of the stories they heard of their disobedient ancestors. All they had to do was look to the North and see that the Northern Kingdom no longer existed.

It's always better to learn by someone else’s mistakes. God has given us many examples of people and nations who have fallen because of sin. Sadly, we often have to make the mistakes ourselves before we learn.

C. Jeremiah is to make it clear that the Lord is aware of a conspiracy in the land (9-13).

“Conspiracy” means rebellion. Josiah made headway in reform with his attempts to rid the land of idolatry. The problem was there were people in power who planned to return to the old ways as soon as possible. After Josiah’s death the people fell right back into their old ways. This was no accident, however. Those in high positions had no heart for God and it was more expedient for them to abandon the covenant rather than keep it.

God tells Jeremiah that both the house of Israel and Judah had broken covenant with Him. For that reason, He will bring judgment on the Southern kingdom. They, after experiencing the discipline of the Lord, will attempt to persuade the Lord to change His mind.

They will cry to Him, but He will not listen.

Now you may think that isn’t fair. But the Lord sees the heart. The people are not sincere and that is proven in verse 12. After crying out to God they then run to their idols. God says they have as many gods as they do cities and as many altars to Baal as they do streets in Jerusalem. This shows how widespread idolatry was.

The people thought they had hidden their sin from God. And when discovered they thought they could talk their way out of punishment. Jeremiah is to tell the people this isn’t going to happen. God knows what they are doing, and God knows their heart as well.

2. The Command not to Pray (14-17).

A. God will not hear their prayers (14).

This is the second time God has told Jeremiah not to pray for the people (7:16). The reason is given in the verse. God is not going to answer the prayer. His decision has been made. Babylon is coming. The people will be taken captive. The people will not repent. Only God knows when a person or a nation has crossed the line. We should not think this verse gives us a reason to stop praying for people. Jeremiah had to be told to stop praying. God literally spoke to Him. God isn’t speaking to us audibly anymore. He speaks through His Word. The only reason to stop praying for a person now is if that person dies.

B. Judah had no right to approach God (15).

God is appalled at what He sees in the Temple. The people come and make sacrificial offerings and then rejoice. He asks how the people can do this. Do they really think their sacrifices are going to erase their sins? Their worship was wicked. It was hypocritical. The vile deeds the people were engaged in forfeited any right they had to come to the Temple. Granted, if they came in repentance things would be different. They didn’t come in repentance. They came with joy over their sin. Not only were their prayers not heard, but their sacrifices were also not received.

As Christians we should pay close attention to this as well. We are saved by grace, but grace is not a license to sin. We should not expect the Lord to receive our worship or hear our prayers if we live in sin all week and show up on Sunday morning with Bible in hand. We are to approach God in sincerity. If we have not lived for Him all week it is unlikely we can truly worship Him on Sunday.

C. The nation had drastically changed (16-17).

God looks back at what His people once were. They were beautiful, like a green olive tree. They bore good fruit. They were a blessing to him and a benefit to others. Now they were worshipping Baal. Their idolatry would have consequences. God’s discipline would be like a great storm against the nation and the green olive tree would be struck by lightning and set on fire. All of its branches would be consumed. In other words, all of its cities would be overtaken. As well, both kingdoms are mentioned for judgment in verse 17.

There is some irony in verse 17. They worshipped Baal to be in league with the other nations. It was politically and financially expedient for them to embrace other gods. What they thought would make life easier for them is what brought destruction on them. Their worship of Baal stripped them of everything.

3. The Conspiracy to Kill Jeremiah (18-23).

A. God warns Jeremiah of a conspiracy against him (18-20).

There was an attempt to kill Jeremiah. They wanted him dead. He had no idea about the conspiracy. He says he was like a lamb being led to the slaughter. When you take an animal to be slaughtered it follows you. Whether it’s a cow, a goat, a sheep, etc. The animal has no idea what you’re doing. Jeremiah had no knowledge of the plan to kill him, so he obviously had no idea who wanted to kill him. The most dangerous enemy is the one you think is your friend.

Look at what they say. Their scheme is as devilish as it gets. They are going to destroy the tree with its fruit. In other words, they will kill him and stop his ministry. The killing of Jeremiah would likely frighten others who preached the same message he preached. They plan to cut Jeremiah off from the land of the living. He is not married, and he has no children so his name will be cut off from the earth forever. He will be remembered no more. That is the plan.

B. The reason for the conspiracy (21).

It was his preaching. They wanted him to stop prophesying. Notice who the conspirators are. They are men of Anathoth. This is Jeremiah’s own town (1:1). It could be that they received the brunt of his preaching. Maybe they heard it so much they decided to kill him. This reminds us of 9:4-6 where Jeremiah said you couldn’t trust your own brother or your own neighbor.

The only way they will reconsider killing him is if he stops preaching. That’s not going to happen. Jesus was not hated for His miracles. He was hated for His Words. The idea that we can preach the gospel without words is foreign to Scripture. No one will ever hate you if you do good and never say a thing. The world hates you when you identify the sin it is in. People hated Jeremiah because he preached the truth.

C. God will repay Jeremiah’s enemies (22-23).

Jeremiah prayed in verse 20 that the vengeance of the Lord would fall upon his enemies. This is hard for us to understand. We are accustomed to praying for our enemies forgiveness. We absolutely should do this. But remember, Jeremiah had already been told not to pray for the people. He knew they were not going to repent. God told him that. His prayer in verse 20 should be seen as a desire for the justice of God to be made known. He doesn’t plan on taking things into his own hands. He committed his cause to the Lord.

God promises Jeremiah that he will punish his enemies. They will die as a result of the siege. When Babylon comes many of his enemies would be killed in battle. Others would die as the result of famine. None of those who sought to kill him would live. God takes what these men of Anathoth conspired to do against Jeremiah personally. Jeremiah was obeying God. Their desire for the death of Jeremiah was actually a desire for the death of God. If they wanted Jeremiah did for repeating what was said, then it only makes sense they wanted the source of the information eliminated too.

Not all the people of Anathoth were killed. When the Persians let the Jews return to Jerusalem 128 men from Anathoth returned with them (Ezra 2:23). But the particular men who conspired against Jeremiah in his hometown would not survive. So serious was the Lord about their punishment that He called the year of their punishment.

We don’t need to spend our time worrying about or fighting our enemies. God fights our battles. We are called to be faithful to Him. We are to share His Word. We are to do His will. That is our job. He handles our enemies.

Another encouraging thing to glean from this section is God knows our enemies. He knows enemies that we are not even aware of. There are some we think are our friends, but they are not. Jeremiah had no idea there was a conspiracy against him. Perhaps it is better that way.

It’s easier to love our enemies if we don’t know who they are.

It’s easier to do good to our enemies if we don’t know who they are.

Sometimes we think “I’d like to know what they think of me.”

It’s better not to. If you find out they like you, you may become proud. If you find out they don’t like you, you may become angry. It’s best to let the Lord handle all of those things. We are not Jesus. We cannot know the hearts of men and still love them unconditionally.

Thank God when we broke the law there was grace for us. We were like these Jewish people. We broke the law but by God’s grace we have been brought to Jesus. Jesus fulfilled the Law, Jesus dies our death. Jesus rose again. For that reason we can have forgiveness and be presented before God as if we had never broken the Law at all.