Jeremiah 11 Remember the Covenant!
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Review of Jeremiah
Review of Jeremiah
We are still within the 3 year gap between the defeat of Pharoah Necho and Babylon taking the first exiles from Jerusalem. In today’s passage, Adonai focuses on the Covenant made at Sinai. This chapter is one of two major sections that refer to the covenant. Can anyone think of the other section?
Read Jeremiah 11
The word that came to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying: Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now say to them, Thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this covenant, which I commanded your forefathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt—out of the iron furnace—saying: ‘Listen to My voice, and do all that I command you. Then you will be My people, and I will be your God. Then I will fulfill the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.’ ” In response I said, “Amen, Adonai.” Then Adonai said to me: “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant, and do them.’ For I earnestly forewarned your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt until this day, forewarning early and often, saying ‘Listen to My voice!’ Yet they would not obey or incline their ear, but each one walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant—which I commanded them to do, but they did not.” Then Adonai said to me, “A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. “The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.” Therefore thus says Adonai. “I will soon bring a disaster on them that they will not be able to escape. They will cry out to Me, yet I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense—but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. For as numerous as your cities are your gods, O Judah, and as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing—altars to burn incense to Baal. As for you, you are not to pray for this people or lift up supplication or prayer for them, for I will not hear them at the time they cry out to Me because of their disaster.” “What is My beloved doing in My House as she does evil schemes with many? Can holy meat prevent your disaster? So you may rejoice? Adonai called your name— a leafy olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. With the noise of a great tumult He has set it on fire, and its branches are broken. For Adonai-Tzva’ot, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to themselves, provoking Me by offering sacrifices to Baal. Moreover, Adonai gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it, then You showed me their deeds. But I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter. I did not know they had devised plots against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit. Let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be no more remembered.” But Adonai-Tzva’ot, who judges righteously, who tests the mind and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them. For to You I have made my cause known. Therefore thus says Adonai concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, “You must not prophesy in the Name of Adonai, so you would not die by our hand.” Therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “I am about to punish them! The young men will die by the sword; their sons and their daughters will die by famine. No remnant will be left to them, for I will bring calamity on the men of Anathoth—the year of their visitation.
Jeremiah Quotes Devarim
Jeremiah Quotes Devarim
From the words we just read, there are eight specific quotes from Deuteronomy. Now I will summarise them here, and then go into several in detail.
(i) “The words of this covenant” (Jer 11:2, 3, 6) is also found in Deut 29:1 [MT 28:69], 9 [8] and 2 Kings 8:29.
(ii) “Cursed is …” (Jer 11:3) is found in Deut 27:26.
(iii) “From the iron furnace” (Jer 11:4) is found in Deut 4:20 and 1 Kgs 8:51.
(iv) “The oath which I swore to your fathers” (Jer 11:5) is found in Deut 7:8; 8:18; 9:5.
(v) “A land flowing with milk and honey” (Jer 11:5; 32:22) is found in Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9, 15; 27:3; 31:20; see also Exod 13:5; Josh 5:6.
(vi) “Amen, Lord” (Jer 11:5) is found in Deut 27:15.
(vii) “This covenant which I commanded them to do” (Jer 11:8) is found in Deut 4:13.
(viii) “To go after other gods” (Jer 11:10) is found in Deut 6:4; 8:19; 11:29; 13:2; 28:14.
Curses for Disobedience
Curses for Disobedience
The first passage that I want to look at is in Deut. 27. However this section in Deut. really starts in Deut. 26:16-19
“This day Adonai your God is commanding you to do these statutes and ordinances—so you are to take care and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you have affirmed Adonai as your God, that you will walk in His ways, keep His statutes, mitzvot and ordinances, and listen to His voice. Now today Adonai has affirmed you as His treasured people, as He promised you; that you are to keep all His mitzvot; that He will set you high above all the nations He has made, for praise, fame and honor; and that you are to be a holy people to Adonai your God, as He has promised.”
This passage recounts the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience. When the Beni Yisrael first entered the land, Moses commanded them to have half the tribes stand on Mt. Gerizim and half the tribes stand on Mount Ebal. The Levites would then pronounce the blessings for obedience over the people, and the curses for disobedience. All the people were to yell out, “So be it!” or in Hebrew, “Amen!”
Jeremiah summarises this passage in two ways. He lists the last of the curses which is found in Deut. 27:26, but he also responds the same way, by calling out, “Amen, Adonai.” There are many sins that are listed from dishonesty, to murder, and from bestiality to incest, but what intrigued me, was the first sin in this list, mentioned in Deut. 27:15 “‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molten image—an abomination to Adonai, the work of a craftsman’s hands—and sets it up in secret.’ Then all the people are to answer and say, ‘Amen.’”
Jeremiah is quoting the last verse from a section, but expecting us to remember the entire passage. This is show explicitly when, in verse 9, Adonai calls out the conspiracy to worship other gods and serve them.
From the Iron Furnace
From the Iron Furnace
The next statement of Jeremiah’s that I want to focus on is where he says, “out of the iron furnace”. This passage is also found in Deuteronomy, but this time is in chapter 4, specifically Deut. 4:20
But you, Adonai has taken, and He brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt to be a people for His own inheritance, as you are this day.
Again, just as with the previous passage, Jeremiah is expecting his audience to know the rest of the passage. Chapter 4 of Deuteronomy is the beginning of Moses’ recounting of the Covenant that had been given at Sinai. In fact in Deut. 5 we see him reiterating all of the 10 commands that had been given in the hearing of all the people. But in Chapter 4 he warns the people against idolatry. Deut. 4:15-19
“So be very watchful over your souls since you saw no form on the day that Adonai spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves a graven image in the likeness of any figure—the form of a male or female, the form of any animal that is on the earth, the form of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the form of anything that creeps on the ground, the form of any fish that is in the water under the earth— and so that you do not lift up your eyes toward the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars—all the heavenly host—and are drawn away and bow down and worship them. Adonai your God has allotted them to all the peoples under all the heavens.
So once again, Jeremiah is quoting from a section of the covenant, that specifically addresses idolatry.
Oath Sworn to Fathers
Oath Sworn to Fathers
The same can be said for the statement, “The oath which I swore to your fathers.” In Deut. 7 Adonai is reminding Israel why He choose them. He starts out by warning them not to make a covenant with the peoples of the land, and not to intermarry with them because of idolatry. In Deut. 7:7-11
“It is not because you are more numerous than all the peoples that Adonai set His love on you and chose you—for you are the least of all peoples. Rather, because of His love for you and His keeping the oath He swore to your fathers, Adonai brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. “Know therefore that Adonai your God, He is God—the faithful God who keeps covenant kindness for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His mitzvot, but repays those who hate Him to their face, to annihilate them. He will not hesitate with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. Therefore you are to keep the commandment—both the statutes and the ordinances—that I am commanding you today, to do them.
This theme is repeated in Deuteronomy 8 and 9. Adonai is warning the Israelites that He keeps His promises and His covenants. Adonai warns the people, that it is His power that prospers them, and it is His power that keeps them. We see this in two passages, Deut. 8:17-19
You may say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand has made me this wealth.’ Rather you are to remember Adonai your God, for it is He who gives you power to make wealth, in order to establish His covenant that He swore to your fathers—as it is this day. “Now if you do forget Adonai your God, and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you will certainly perish.
and Deut. 9:4-6
“After Adonai your God has driven them out from before you, do not say in your heart, ‘It is because of my righteousness that Adonai has brought me in to possess this land.’ It is because of the wickedness of these nations that Adonai is driving them out from before you. It is not by your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to possess their land. Rather, because of the wickedness of these nations, Adonai your God is driving them out from before you, and in order to keep the word Adonai swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. So you should understand that it is not because of your righteousness that Adonai your God is giving you this good land to possess—for you are a stiff-necked people.
All of these passages provide the context for Jeremiah’s declaration. Adonai says through Jeremiah that He has warned them early and often. There is no excuse for anyone. Which makes the statement in Jer. 11:8 even more potent.
Yet they would not obey or incline their ear, but each one walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant—which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”
So what is Adonai supposed to do? He has warned again and again, but no one listens. He has fulfilled the blessings for obedience, and now he will fulfill the curses for the disobedience. And now that the judgement has started, there is no turning back, there is no more opportunity for “repentance”. Judgement has come.
Heart of Adonai
Heart of Adonai
But what is the heart of Adonai in all of this? Does Adonai enjoy bringing punishment? Absolutely not! As we read in Jer. 11:15-16, Adonai calls his people, “My Beloved”, and “a leafy olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit.”
These are terms of endearment, terms of love, but as it says in Jer. 11:17
For Adonai-Tzva’ot, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to themselves, provoking Me by offering sacrifices to Baal.
Jeremiah Hated by his Own
Jeremiah Hated by his Own
In the last section of this chapter, we read about another conspiracy. This time it is Jeremiah’s own town that hates what he is saying, and are plotting to kill him. There are several verses that stand out to me. The first is where Jeremiah speaks of himself as “a lamb led to the slaughter.” This reminds me of the prophesy made by Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed and He was afflicted yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
And just like Jeremiah, Yeshua also kept silent during the plot to kill him. Matt. 26:62-64
The kohen gadol stood up and said to Yeshua, “Have You no answer? What’s this they’re testifying against You?” But Yeshua kept silent. The kohen gadol said to Him, “I charge You under oath by the living God, tell us if You are Mashiach Ben-Elohim!” “As you have said,” replied Yeshua. “Besides that, I tell you, soon after you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Another statement that stood out to me was in the last verse, Jer. 11:23 “the year of their visitation.” The people of Anathoth were about to experience judgement, because they had rejected the messenger, Jeremiah, and they had rejected the one who had sent the messenger, Adonai.
Yeshua makes a very similar statement, in Luke 19:41-44
As He drew near and saw Jerusalem, He wept over her, saying, “If only you had recognized this day the things that lead to shalom! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will surround you with barricades and hem you in on all sides. And they will smash you to the ground—you and your children within you. And they won’t leave within you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
This was the same time that Yeshua also said, Matt. 23:37-39
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate! For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
And in the same way that the people of Anathoth rejected him and attemted to murder him, so also the people of Nazareth rejected and attempted to murder Yeshua. Luke 4:24-30
But He said, “Truly, I tell you, ‘No prophet is accepted in his own hometown.’ But with all truthfulness I say to you, that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when heaven was closed for three and a half years and there came a great famine over all the land. Elijah was not sent to any of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a widowed woman. There were many with tzara’at in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them were purified apart from Naaman the Syrian.” Now all in the synagogue were filled with rage upon hearing these things. Rising up, they drove Him out of the town and brought Him as far as the edge of the mountain on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him off the cliff. But passing through the middle of them, He went on His way.
Application
Application
So how do we apply this passage to our lives today?
Adonai keeps His Covenants
Adonai keeps His Covenants
We see in this passage today, a recalling of the Covenant made at Sinai. Adonai is declaring through Jeremiah, that the coming judgement is in direct fulfillment of the Covenant made with Beni Yisrael at Sinai. But for us, there is another covenant spoken of in Jeremiah. Years later, Jeremiah would declare, Jer. 31:30
“Behold, days are coming” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
This is the new covenant that Yeshua established. Heb. 9:15
For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that those called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—since a death has taken place that redeems them from violations under the first covenant.
And He did not offer Himself again and again—as the kohen gadol enters into the Holy of Holies year after year with blood that is not his own. For then He would have needed to suffer again and again from the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has been revealed once and for all at the close of the ages—to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this judgment, so also Messiah, was offered once to bear the sins of many. He will appear a second time, apart from sin, to those eagerly awaiting Him for salvation.
So just as Adonai was faithful to keep the covenant made at Sinai, how much more so will He keep the covenant made through the blood of Messiah? And if Yeshua was faithful to lay down his life for us, how much more will He be faithful to “appear a second time” to us who are “eagerly awaiting Him for salvation”?
Oh how I long to see my Messiah, my Saviour, and my Lord!
Read the Next Verse
Read the Next Verse
The next principle that we can gain by reading Jeremiah, is this: When we study the Scripture and we come across a passage that we do not understand, or a place where an author quotes another passage, we should read the next verse. We should look at the whole chapter, or even section and see the theme that is being discussed. The Scripture is not too difficult to understand. It might be difficult to put into practice, because of our pride, impatience, and stubbornness, but it is not too difficult to understand.
Have Adonai’s Heart
Have Adonai’s Heart
Even in the middle of bringing correction, we see Adonai still loves Judah and Jerusalem. We are also called to have this heart of love, at all times, especially during times of judgement. Yeshua told us, Matt. 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than anyone else? Even the pagans do that, don’t they? Therefore be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
We are called to love those who persecute us. It is easy to understand, but not easy to do. This is why we must rely on the Ruach of Adonai who dwells in us, to give us love for those who hate us.
In Closing
In Closing
Yeshua was hated for the same reasons that Jeremiah was hated. Yeshua represented Adonai, and did only what he saw the Father doing. Yeshua declared that his generation was sinful, and that judgement was coming, just like Jeremiah. And so Yeshua was the recipient of baseless hated. Yet He was filled with grace and love, and hanging on the cross, Yeshua cried out, Luke 23:34
But Yeshua was saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Then they cast lots, dividing up His clothing.
My prayer is that we reflect, just a little of that sort of love.