Monthly Archives: May 2017

Jeremiah – Chapter 21

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When nothing is going wrong to us individually, that is of which we are aware, life in the fast lane is bliss. But, as our knowledge grows our surroundings, enforinment, or culture within which we live and our understanding of outcomes or consequences increases, bliss becomes tainted. This is precisely the situation King Zedekiah finds himself in chapter 21. He suddenly realizes, better said, he finally accepts as true knowledge with the beginnings of understanding, what Jeremiah has been prophesying is now surrounding the cities of Judah and Jerusalem; i.e. Babylonian troops.

JIV INSIGHT: Pashhur son of Malkijah is not the same Pashhur we discussed in chapter 20. The second Pashhur is mentioned in Jeremiah 21:1. The “Zephaniah” mentioned in the same verse is NOT the same man who wrote the Book of Zephaniah. *Zephaniah the author is Zephaniah the son of Cushi and one of the twelve Minor Prophets. Zephaniah in verse 1 of C21 is Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, a Levite priest.

*Zephaniah the son of Cushi and author of the Book of Zephaniah is the great, great grandson of King Hezekiah of Judah but he is NOT the same Zephaniah (Levite) mentioned in chapter 21.

Are you confused? Me tooJ

When one looks down the road of potential trouble (such as Babylonians on the march in this chapter) we try to take escape or evasive action. NOW Jeremiah is suddenly important to the leaders of Judah, both the religious (Zephaniah) and the secular (Pashhur). We see this in the selection of these two as negotiators sent from King Zedekiah to Jeremiah.

Verse 2 is very telling. The bible tells us that God looks at the true intent of the heart (kavanah, chavanah, sometimes spelled cavanah). It is an easy to question the motives of the religious and secular leadership of Judah. Here is verse 2 from the ESV:

“Inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us.”escape

There is nothing in this request from King Zedekiah to Jeremiah to pray for the sin of Judah and its leadership or a hint of repentance. The intent of their heart is to escape or evade; not return to the God of Israel. They are hoping that God will deliver them as he has done in the past histories of Israel as a nation and later as the (southern) Kingdom of Judah.

Good verses to keep in mind at this point include:

James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…but only if and when we confess them.time

Jeremiah 21 verses 4 and 5 are a comparison and contrast with Jeremiah’s tenure in history and the coming Apocalyptic End Time but we can draw comparisons. Verse 4 is very similar to both Jeremiah’s and End Time but the oxymoron with End Time is found in verse 5.  Verse four tells us that the weapons of Judah will be useless against such an enemy (Babylon) just as as they will against a 200,000,000 man enemy of End Time. Both times God will bring the enemy into the city of Jerusalem itself. However, in verse five, God says (ESV) “I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm.” In End Time Revelation 19:15 we are told Jesus will fight the battle for Israel against the overwhelming odds circling Jerusalem; destroying the enemies of Judah/Israel with the words of his mouth. 

“On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place” (Zechariah 12:6). “On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem” (Zechariah 12:9). (the 200,000,000 man army destroyed)

Verse six it is similar in events coming to the world during the 2nd [black] and 3rd [red] horsemen of the Apocalypse; pestilence, disease, starvation, death on a great scale. But verse 7c needs a bit of insight. It reads: “and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.” This is NOT GOD doing the smiting, but Nebuchadnezzar and his armies.if

Verse 8 & 9 are conditional promises just as stated in previous articles from this website regarding God’s intervention or help… “If you do ____, then I will do ____”. The total statement goes through v10 but here is the gist of it. “…and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.” But verse 8 also gives a condition of choice, just like we have today. It says, understand that I will let you choose to live or die” (but you must___.) This too is very similar to End Time issues surrounding Jerusalem (Revelation 12:6 where the woman referred to is Israel). We can learn much about the end of the Church age by studying the O.T. histories of actuality an alternative word for Israel. Much is foreseen in Daniel and spoken of in Matthew 24. It is in Luke 21 (20-24) where we draw the parallel of Jerusalem being surrounded by enemy. We also can’t leave out references in Zechariah 14:1-3 or Joel 2:1-10. There are strong parallels in each of these passages.

NOTE: The bible student will look up these passages where the casual reader will read on. Both may be students of the Word but the casual reader is seeking awareness and the student who searches is fulfilling a need for knowledge and understanding.

Jeremiah 21:14, the final verse in chapter 21, leaves no wiggle room. It reads… (ERV) “You will get the punishment you deserve. I will start a fire in your forests that will completely burn everything around you.'” This message is from the LORD.”

However, lets’ summarize these past and future events discussed in chapter 21 by what Ray Stedman writes. He is referencing Matthew 24 but implying Jeremiah 21…

Ray Stedman,

Who are they who must flee so urgently when the last days begin? Who dare not hesitate long enough even to go back into the house to pick up a wrap, but must immediately head for the hills? There is no need to wonder, for the Lord says plainly, “those who are in Judea” Now Judea is a geographical part of the land of Israel, ancient Palestine. It comprises the hill country surrounding the city of Jerusalem and includes the city as well. It is to the residents of Jerusalem and Judea that this warning is addressed. Furthermore, the Lord’s mention of the Sabbath establishes the fact that these residents of Judea are Jews. He urges them to pray that their flight will not be in the winter, with its distress of cold, or on the Sabbath, with its travel limitations, for Jews are allowed to travel only a short distance on a Sabbath day. Later in this passage these Jews are called “the elect” (“for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened”), and this makes clear they are believing Jews, that is, men and women of faith who know and love Jesus Christ as Lord and are prepared to live or die for him. They are not Christians in the usual sense of that term, referring to those who are members of the church, for we are told that in the church there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free. Jews are not to be distinguished from Gentiles within the church. These distinctions, we are precisely told by the apostle Paul, have been invalidated in the church. The “middle wall of partition” has been eliminated; there are no distinctions of background, race or religious training that are recognized within the church of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, Christians, we are told, are free from the law and no longer observe special days, special feasts, new moons and Sabbaths. In his letter to the Colossians the apostle Paul clearly speaks of the fact that the Sabbaths were included in those shadows which were done away in Christ. But here the Sabbath distinctly will be a restricting factor in the flight of these people. Here then will be a class of people who cannot be identified with the present day church but with Jerusalem. These people will be Jewish believers in Christ who will be converted after the removal of the church and before the time of the Great Tribulation.

miniJimRev Dr. Jstark March 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeremiah – Chapter 20

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Jeremiah Chapter 20

If one was to encapsulate chapter 20 the answer is in verses 7-9. Using the C.E.V. translation:

Jer 20:7  You tricked me, LORD, and I was really fooled. You are stronger than I am, and you have defeated me. People never stop sneering and insulting me.

Jer 20:8  You have let me announce only destruction and death. Your message has brought me nothing but insults and trouble.

Jer 20:9  Sometimes I tell myself not to think about you, LORD, or even mention your name. But your message burns in my heart and bones, and I cannot keep silent.burns heart

CEV= Contemporary English Version

Jeremiah says God tricked him, that God only allowed him to bring messages of a negative nature, and finally Jeremiah says he tries to understand his prophesying call to warn Judah of their doom, and get it all out of his mind. But…Your message (to me) burns within my heart and bones and I cannot keep silent, (even if I really tried).

How God supposedly tricked him is an unknown. It may mean Jeremiah’s idea of prophesying would bring about a confession and a return to God by his fellow Judeans. That didn’t happen. It only got him into trouble with the political and religious leaders AND the general population. Even Jeremiah’s so-called friends and neighbors didn’t like his messages very much. This is where we get the idea and phrase, “with friends like these who needs enemies?”

Since the name “Pashhur” (v1) was as common a name back then as is the name “Bob” today, we cannot for certain identify which “Pashhur” is being discussed. We know he is the son of Immer and that he had something to do with the high offices of the Temple or Sanhedrin. It may be the one identified by this archeological Clay Bulla discovery of the official seal of Gadeliah who too is identified as a son of Immer. Truth is we simply don’t know if this Pashhur was the father of Gedalia. Note the clay bulla says “Ha-Cohen.” Ha in Hebrew is the word ‘THE’. Cohen means priest. So the emblem would say Gedaliah is a son of a (high) priest.

The culture and political sway of that time in Judah was something similar to street gangs, if I can take such a liberty to parallel them. The Temple officials had police powers around the Temple. Anyone violating Temple laws while on Temple grounds would pay a Temple price for his or her violation. Jeremiah was prophesying against the Temple agents and priests as to their sinful neglect of the one and only true God and did so inside and on the Temple grounds. Street gangs have their “territory” and exercise authority within these defined boundaries.

To keep our attempts of records and histories straight, think about this. Jeremiah’s father was the prophet and Kohen-Gadol (High Priest) Hilkiah. This by family and default made Jeremiah a Levite descended from Aaron. Jeremiah began his prophecies in the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s reign. The prophet Zephaniah and the prophetess Hulda also lived at that time. This means Jeremiah was a Levite by birth and contemporary prophet with Zephania and Hulda. This gave him rights to the Temple that others did not have. However, Pashhur still punished him for speaking out as a prophet and against the stance of the ranking Temple priests.

Jeremiah was put into stocks by Pashhur near the Gate of Benjamin which itself is within the Temple “block” and center of power of Pashhur. This Gate of Benjamin is NOT the South African rock band called by that name. “Jeremiah was put in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate – the northern gate of the upper temple court. It was one of the most conspicuous places in the city” (Feinberg). Pashhur released him the next day but only to the scorn of Jeremiah. The prophet told Pashhur his name would be changed to reflect his actions. God changed his name according to verse 3, to Magor-Missabib meaning “terror on every side.” This itself was a prophecy. Jeremiah told Pashhur that any and all who came alongside him from now on be it friend, family or neighbor, s/he would suffer terror at the hands of the Babylonians. All would die soon or at the hands of the Babylonians in Babylon.

In verse 6 (CEV) it reads…”Pashhur, you are guilty of telling lies and claiming they were messages from me. That’s why I (God) will have the Babylonians take you, your family, and your friends as prisoners to Babylonia, where you will all die and be buried.”

It is in the next verse where Jeremiah says God tricked him. He thought (actually had hoped) that his prophesying would bring change, but it didn’t. It brought pain to Jeremiah instead. And…since he now realized his preaching was pointless, he wondered why he had even been born. But, after have a good and basic accusing discussion with God, Jeremiah comes to his senses in verse 12 but then reverts back to the “woe is me” syndrome in verse 14. In actuality it isn’t Jeremiah just cursing the day he was born but more of a full love for his people and the *dead end message he was appointed to deliver. He figures if he had not been born, the message would not have been or needed to be delivered to Judah.dead end

*Dead end message…this is a parallel prophecy to New Testament End Time. People will simply reject the Word of God as it won’t fit their life style then. However, there is no commandment or even a suggestion that those alive and Christian at this End Time should cease to witness for God.

We see this at the end of verse 15…”a son [Jeremiah] is born to you making him (his father) very glad.” There was to be nothing glad or wonderful about Jeremiah’s calling and life. It would be a life of struggle, message of bad news, the end of a kingdom (Judah), and great death and sorrow; just as will be true during the Great  Tribulation. Jeremiah does not mean it would have been better for him personally to have not been born, but for his people of Judah…so he hoped. Even though he knew his purpose in life, one might say the birth of Jeremiah concerning Judah was a bad omen. Once again we see the messenger being hated and the message simply ignored. This too happened to Jesus in the New Testament. He carried a message that was ignored by many of his own people (Jews) and hated by the same type of religious and secular leadership of that time. In the case of Jesus, he is both the messenger and the purpose of the message; i.e. the messenger-message.

Let me conclude this article with the issue raised by Jeremiah in verses 9 & 10. When we are called of God while on earth and the Holy Spirit is active in our lives, it is more miserable to deny our work for HIM than it is to simply fulfill our calling. It becomes a Life worth Living as Bill Gaither puts it in one of his songs. Here is a summary of Jeremiahs thought process as concerns rejecting doing the will of God:

  • Jeremiah couldn’t because he dealt with God’s word.
  • Jeremiah couldn’t because that word lived in his heart.
  • Jeremiah couldn’t because that word burned in his heart like fire.
  • Jeremiah couldn’t because that word pressed against his very being, as if it were shut up in his bones, requiring great energy to hold in (I was weary of holding it back)
  1. “He found out the impossibility of denying his call. He learned that it was irreversible and that God’s word was irrepressible.” (Feinberg)
  2. “Under the stress and strain of his sufferings, he was tempted to abandon the work, to refuse to speak any more in the name of Jehovah. But when he attempted thus to find release from suffering in silence, it was impossible; for such silence became more intolerable than suffering.” (Morgan)

In our next chapter, the Judean leadership now turns to Jeremiah for salvation from the besieging Babylonians (Chaldeans). God shows no mercy as we will explain in chapter 21 of Jeremiah.

miniJimJStark

 

Jeremiah – Chapter 19

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potters hand.jpgOnce again Jeremiah writes at the beginning of a chapter…”and the Lord told me to________.” Chapter 18 finds Jeremiah visiting a potter’s shop to see how a potter formed his pots; reminiscent of God’s creation of Adam. Now he is going to use a pot to demonstrate to the leaders (Civil and religious) of Judah how God is going to deal with them for their sinful and reluctant hearts.

JIV: There is something more than meets the eye and it is found here in chapter 18. Why would God have Jeremiah VISIT a potter’s shop? I have read up on pot making. It can be formed, shaped and made functional when it is soft clay; pliable to the molding of a potter’s hands. Once it is fire-hardened, it can only be patched or tossed away. When Adam and Eve sinned, their bodies became cracked or destined to die for it is now “been appointed once for a man to die” (Hebrew 9:27). In the meantime, God will patch us up spiritually if we are pliable spiritually.

Yes, Judah still has the Temple at this time in their history but they have forgotten that it is to be a place of monotheistic worship; i.e. one God. It had become “just another place of Judean worship but no longer just one God. They were still making sacrifices but one will shudder to learn they were sacrificing their own children to foreign gods. Some theologians suggest it is excused in their minds as parallel to Abraham taking his own son Isaac up to sacrifice him. It sounds more like it is post-birth abortion.

Deuteronomy 12:31 (see also Leviticus 20:2-5, Jeremiah 32:35, Ezekiel 20:26, Isaiah 57:4-5) tells us: You must not worship the Lord your God in their [foreigner’s] way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

These people (Tribe of Judah and their Levite priests) already knew this passage from Deuteronomy, Leviticus and Ezekiel. In the time of Jeremiah, it is several hundred years after these passages were written in Israeli histories. Even if they thought it may be similar to the Abraham and Isaac history, it violates these Old Testament and Hebrew books/scrolls.

If you, the reader, read this website’s article about SHIN then this next paragraph will make more sense. It has to do with the Valley of (Ben)Hinnom, sometimes identified as Tophet. This is a location south-east of Jerusalem where their garbage, animal bones, and wasted sacrifices were dumped and burned. This is also where the bible tells us these Judeans required their children to “walk through the fire” in honor of Moloch. Not much different than today’s abortion clinics…a child dies. The word “Tophet” means drums. The drums were beat so loud that the cries of children (babies) being sacrifices could not be heard. As if they didn’t know it was wrong? God did and so did they. Why else beat the drums loudly to cover up cries if it was a right thing in God’s eyes?

Valley of (Ben)Hinnom was renamed by God as the Valley of Slaughter. There is so much more to this but not in this article. We will address it more as we go through Jeremiah and later chapters.

JIV NOTE: Verse 3b of chapter 19 says: (ERV) “…the God of the people of Israel, says: I will soon make a terrible thing happen to this place! Everyone who hears about it will be amazed and full of fear.”  This is a prophecy soon to happen and parallel to End Time. The invasion (Armageddon) of Jerusalem may very well come through that valley and from that direction. To come from the other direction would require troops and machinery to cross two valleys and mountainous land. This also refers to the direction of Nebuchadnezzar’s (Babylonian) invasion of Jerusalem after he finished dealing with the Egyptian army. In a bit of what some so-called historians would call a coincident, this valley is also the placement and ritual of heathen god worship by Judah and their leadership; Valley of Death.

Jeremiah 19:4 amplifies the JIV NOTE.

An interesting but evasive to this author’s understanding or piece of mind is, why this is even mentioned in the bible; i.e. the bottle or pot Jeremiah used in his demonstration of God’s destructive plan for Judah is called a “burbuk” or “bubuk.” That name represents the chugging sound a liquid makes when coming out of a thin-necked bottle or pot. If someone has an idea or opinion as to its application or implication, e-mail me at drjstark1@gmail.com. Please provide evidence as to the conclusion or thoughts. I have plenty of opinions. Archeologists of the 20th century have found an amazing number of burial or crypt sites in this same area of Judah.

For a deeper understanding of this historical area, click here… http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_nabateans.html

petraPetra: Not mentioned in Jeremiah 19 but relevant as we will see in later articles. It is speculated by some theologians that this is to where the people of Israel/Judah will flee in End Time Tribulation. This impressive city was hidden away in a cleft in the rock with access through a narrow crack in a mountain. The crack is over 1200 meters long and 3 to 6 meters wide, flanked by 100-meter high canyon walls. Why hide a city? http://nabataea.net/who.html NOTE: The Nabateans were also known as Edomite’s. But then, Genesis 25:13 gives us another possibility. It is Isaac’s half-brother Ishmael’s eldest and first born son’s name (Nebaioth/Nebayoth).

Jeremiah 19:5 is a very specific declaration. God says that the Judeans “burned their sons” and that “he did not ever tell them to do this; it never even crossed his mind to do such a thing.” However, this sin was but one reason God was holding Judah accountable as even more sinful than their northern cousins in the then nonexistent Kingdom of Israel (10 Tribes).

Jeremiah is told in 19:7-9 to instruct prophetically to the leaders of Judah their horrible consequence for betraying their God and as His chosen people. Verse 10 then says for Jeremiah to break the Burbur (pot) in front of them. We find that the death blow on Judah by the Babylonians will be so extensive that there will remain no one to bury the dead and no place left to bury them. God says “he will make this land (Jerusalem) like Topheth; a place of death.”

Verse 13 in chapter 19 needs explaining. It mentions “roof offerings.” It is obvious in this verse that offerings of sacrifice were also done on roof tops. But why? The answer is geographical. Most of this land area is flat and has no “high places” upon which to lift up their offerings/sacrifices. This is also a parallel to the New Testament command to “lift up the name of Jesus.” This includes the eternal sacrifice made by Jesus when “For he was lifted up on the cross to pay the debt of our sin.” Isaiah 6:3 is a great example of lifting up for the correct reason.

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Jer 19:15  “Listen, everyone! Some time ago, the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel, warned you that he would bring disaster on Jerusalem and all nearby villages. But you were stubborn and refused to listen. Now the LORD is going to bring the disaster he promised.” [CEV translation]

When we take Jeremiah 18 and 19 together as the content, we get the context of the potter working us, molding us, making us. In chapter 19 the potter breaks us when we become as useless as a cracked pot. This is God’s message to all of Judah. They still didn’t listen.

miniJimDr. J. Stark

Jeremiah – Chapter 18

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(God says He can change His mind)

Over 30 times in Jeremiah a chapter begins with something similar to “The Lord spoke to me about such and such or said…” Jeremiah was in constant contact with the Lord [1 Thessalonians 5:16-18].

In chapter 18 we find God telling Jeremiah that he is no longer satisfied with the Israel-Judah of His original design and is going to remake them. Remake them into what is a later chapter.

potter wheel

Verse 1: “And the Lord told…”  Jeremiah is about to get a visual lesson at a clay potter’s shop. There will be people there, in the streets and commercial center. Jeremiah is instructed to go there, observe the potter at work, and then speak to those around him when God puts the words in his mouth. In the same sentence (v2) Jeremiah may have been in a dream state as God tells him to RISE UP, arise,… The ERV leaves out the word “rise” but such a word indicates he is to get up. We know that in the working and waking hours craftsmen make their wares to sell in the afternoon markets. This is not of real important but we can glean from this that Jeremiah may have been hearing the Lord in a dream; i.e. in the spirit [John 4:24].

When Jeremiah “rises up” and gets there, the potter is busy. The potter however is in a sort of dilemma. He is not in the process of making what he originally planned with the lump of clay but is remolding it to something different. Why? V4 says: (ERV) “He was making a pot from clay. But there was something wrong with the pot.” Before going any further, this chapter is about God re-creating his chosen people of Israel-Judah into something other than his original plans… “But there was something wrong with the pot.” The potter was remaking the original pot into something still of value but different from his original design. But to remake or remold the clay, he had to first lay hands on it, clump it back into a heap, and then begin again.

  • The Potter represents God
  • The clay represents Israel-Judah

Verse 5: At this point Jeremiah gets the analogy of the clay, the potter and Israel. Note that it is NOT just Judah to which God is speaking through Jeremiah. How do we know (yada)? V6: “O House of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD…” (ESV). HOUSE OF ISRAEL? The ten northern Tribes of Israel were dispersed by the Assyrians into the neighboring lands far and near 120 years earlier. However, God still holds them as His chosen and His people. He isn’t pleased with them so chapter 18 explains what God plans. He is going to reshape them but using the same lump of clay. This will take many years and up to End Time. We will discuss this further in later chapters in this Jeremiah study.

Verses 7-10 God is declaring once again His total sovereignty over man. He can break us up, cast us out, reshape us or keep us under His thumb. It all depends on the attitude and heart of the kingdom, nation or people to which he is making this declaration; even America. Congress cannot prevent it and neither can some Circuit Court or federal judge. ifThe promise, as we have discussed so often in our bible blogs once again fits the “If you_____, then I will _____.” God tells Jeremiah that if the people of any (v7) nation or kingdom repent, I, God can change my mind. God is not arbitrary in that He is unrelenting or merciless. However, we once again glean from this passage that God includes ANY group of peoples; not just Judah. But it goes both ways. A given people must continue (v10) or return from their evil ways of rejecting God. He will “relent of the good he intended for them” if they don’t. Be careful America. We were once a Christian nation but former President Obama set the record quite straight when in his ignorance declared America to “not just be a Christian nation (anymore)” (emphasis mine).

In this given situation the CEV translation is good: “…but [if or when] its people start disobeying me and doing evil, then I will change my mind and not help them at all” (18:10). In a sense God is still offering Judah-Israel the chance to be redeemed; no 70 year bondage in Babylon but only if…! In carefully reading this passage we can also reason that God’s original plan for man is good, not bad. We still have chapters 19-52 to discuss so it doesn’t end here. However verse 12 tells us the Judeans refuse the offer. How blatant can one be? Proverbs 12:1 tells us “he who loves correction loves knowledge; but whoever hates correction is stupid.”

By using a correlation with the snowcapped mountains of Lebanon and the waters that flow from these mountains in verse 14, God renounces his protection of the people of Judah; the one’s he now identifies as “this people.” God recognizes all the Tribes of Israel as arrogant and self-centered. As he did with the Pharaoh of the time of Moses, he turns them over to their own ways without his intervention, protection or influence. He does not bring the disaster as some teach. He allows it to happen. Babylon is already on a military roll through the Middle East conquering even their former masters the Assyrians. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, is identified as God’s servant in Jeremiah 27:6. This isn’t what it might seem to be at first read. We will discuss this in greater detail when we get to chapter 27. If you can’t wait, go to our study of the Book of Daniel. It is explained in one of these articles.

“For they have forgotten me…” (v15).  A better translation of the word “for” in this verse would be “because.” “Forgotten” or epilanthanomai in the Greek, one of the longest Greek words used in scripture, means, to “put out of mind; totally neglect as opposed to reject.” God is not even a consideration by the peoples of Judah at this time. To put this in modern terms, absence does not breed a stronger bond; it breeds total forgetfulness. At this time in history, Judaism is no longer a way of life with God Jehovah, but it is a religion. We can see from this passage why 600 years later the Scribes, Priests, and Pharisees had no recognition of their Messiah Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem.

In verses 16 and 17 we get the purpose of the practice of modern day shunning or excommunication; a severing of all ties with an individual or group ostracized. (V17; ESV) Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity.” The Jewish Publication Society Bible (JPS) puts it differently. They say that God will look upon THEIR backside instead of their faces. Think about this difference.

At this point in chapter 18 Jeremiah shifts gears. He points out to God that his own people are planning ways to remove themselves from the words of Jeremiah. They do it, initially, by declaring the Law of Moses and the insight of the Levite priests to be of a greater value than these words from Jeremiah. They are declared words, not prophecies. Besides, during this time and in previous chapters Jeremiah mentions that there are others who declare themselves prophets with words contrary to what Jeremiah says; i.e. the tickling of their ears. Recall in chapter 7 of Jeremiah these people declare they have the Temple. They forget that it is God not the Temple that is their protection.

There is a saying that goes something like this: “No good deed shall go unpunished.” In essence this is what Jeremiah points out to God in verse 20. “I have been good to the people of Judah but now they are paying me back with evil…” (ERV). The ERV adds that not only are his fellow countrymen plotting to wage a war of tongues (debate) with Jeremiah but they plan to kill him. However, Jeremiah has the divine protection of God (Jeremiah 1:17, 18). By this time and as expounded upon in later chapters, Jeremiah is asking God to pour out His wrath. “Let their children starve and let women lose their husbands” he says to God in verse 21.

If we look closely at what Jeremiah is asking of God, he is asking for judgment upon his own people due to their total rejection of the message he delivered to them from God. Not only do the Judeans reject the message, but plot to kill the messenger. How might we see this in light of today? We are the messenger but is there a limit to our rejection? Is there a point of no return? Might there be a time we “shake the soil from our feet as we leave a place that has rejected God, the message and the messenger? [Matthew 10:12; Luke 10:10-11] Read these passages and judge for yourself.

miniJimRev. Dr. Jstark February 2017