Year 3, Day 101: Jeremiah 49

Ammon

The Ammonites were located east of the Jordan River and north of Moab.  They played an important role after the destruction of Jerusalem in that they were behind Ishmael’s assassination of Gedaliah.  They were also an ally of Israel during the revolt of Judah against Babylon – which ultimately ended in the utter destruction of Jerusalem.  There has been conflict throughout the history of Judah and Ammon.

Ammon’s Treachery

At the beginning of this chapter Jeremiah asks 4 questions.  Does Israel have no sons?  Does Israel have no heirs?  Why then has Molech (Milcom) dispossessed Gad?  Why have the Ammonite settled in the cities of Israel?

When Assyria conquered Israel, the northern kingdom was either killed or dragged into captivity.  This left the land largely bare, although the Assyrian policy was to relocate people from other parts of their empire to newly conquered regions.  However, the Ammonites also took advantage of the downfall of Israel.  The Ammonites moved in and claimed some of the territory for their own.

This display of greed and self-centeredness irritated God.  It was bad enough that they refused to acknowledge God’s presence.  But to take over His land and the land that He had set aside for His people was an act of war.  God may have caused His people to go into bondage, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t coming back!  When Ammon seized the land of Israel, they were making a claim that they didn’t care about God’s plans at all.  What is the saying?  Get while the getting’s good!

Ammon takes advantage of Israel in their moment of God’s correction.  Ammon takes advantage of people while they are down.  God doesn’t look highly upon those who in their power take advantage of those who are weak.  I think this is a lesson that all of us can learn.

Pride

Furthermore, Ammon was prideful.  They believed in the beauty of their spaces.  They believed in the strength of their own creations.  They believed that none could come against them.  Of course, they already forgot that they were a vassal of Babylon.  For the record, God doesn’t care much for arrogant pride, either.  They would fall.

But God displays mercy here.  Ammon will be restored.  They will have an opportunity to learn the lesson.

Edom

Edom was east of the Dead Sea and south of Moab.  The Edomites are the offspring of Esau.  They have had a history of conflict with the Hebrew people since Jacob and Esau.

In fact, it is this brotherly relationship for which Edom is judged the hardest.  If God was going to punish those unrelated to the Hebrew people for their crimes, how could God not punish those related to the Hebrew people?

The destruction of Edom is going to be thorough.  More than once God tells Edom that they will be laid bare.  God compares Edom to Sodom and Gomorrah – nobody shall live there again.  Only the orphans and the widows – the outcasts and uncared for – will have a chance of surviving under God’s provision.  And unlike Ammon, there is no promise of restoration.

Syria (Damascus, Arpad, Hamath)

Syria is to the north of Ammon.  Syria had a reputation for attacking Israel and occasionally making weak alliances with Israel to attack Judah.  They had their own share of trouble with Babylon as well.

God calls Damascus a city of His joy.  Yet, there was judgment due upon them for they also did not receive God and God’s ways.  God swears to kindle a fire in Damascus and destroy their strongholds.  When Nebuchadnezzar conquers Damascus, all of the soldiers of Damascus were killed and their strongholds were burned with fire.  There is no promise of redemption, although we do know that the country continues to exist to this day.

Kedar and Hazor

Kedar was a nomadic tribe of Ishmaelites (children of Abraham through Hagar).  They were known for their archery, warlike nature, ability to trade, and their care of sheep.  Hazor is an unknown nation that apparently existed in the Arabian peninsula.

Note that these verses read with God calling forth Babylon.  God Himself wills the destruction of Kedar and Hazor at the hand of the Babylonians.  Notice that Hazor felt so secure and prideful in their remote location that they didn’t even have fortifications!  Again, there is no promise of restoration after the Babylonians come.

Elam

Elam was a distant country from Judah.  They were actually located east of Babylon, beyond the Tigris and Euphrates rivers into what is known today as Iran.  They were known for their archery.

Notice that like the Israelites, the Elamites will be scattered throughout the whole of the known world.  Interestingly enough, although Nebuchadnezzar does subjugate the Elamites, it is actually the Persians and the Medes that take over Elam and make them a part of their empire.  Then, the Persians with the help of the Elamites conquer Babylon.  Through this process, though, the Elamite nation is lost among the Persians.  In effect, they are assimilated into Persia.  Their destruction is not ultimate, though.  Here God does promise restoration to Elam.

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Year 3, Day 100: Jeremiah 48

Moab

Moab is a land that lies east of the Dead Sea.  Edom is its southern neighbor.  Ammon is its neighbor to the north.  There is a fair amount of similarity between this chapter in Jeremiah and Isaiah 16:6-12

Specific Cities

All throughout this chapter Jeremiah lists specific cities that will be overthrown by the Babylonians.  This serves a very specific purpose.  This makes the prophecy personal and directed.

Jeremiah had years of experience telling the people of Judah that the Lord was going to come against them if they did not repent.  The people of Judah had years of experience saying, “Not us, we don’t believe you.”  These were people who knew Jeremiah and supposedly also knew Jeremiah’s God.  They were supposed to care, but didn’t.

On the other hand, The Moabites wouldn’t have particularly known Jeremiah and they certainly wouldn’t have cared about Jeremiah’s God.  So in order to get them to think about the words, Jeremiah includes references to specific cities.  Jeremiah points out those individual cities that will mourn as the Babylonians come through the land.  Jeremiah is just trying to get people’s attention.

Isn’t this true about human beings?  When someone comes around with blessings, everyone wants to hear.  Everyone assumes that the blessing is for them.  But when someone comes around with a warning, nobody wants to listen.  Everyone assumes that the warning is for someone else.  How interesting it is that human beings naturally hear the best and become deaf to the worst when in reality we would be prudent to have it be the other way around!

Idolatry

God makes it clear through Jeremiah that the reason for the judgment is idolatry.  The Moabites had plenty of time to inquire about the Lord of the Hebrew people – Creator of the universe – and build a relationship with Him.  But instead they worshipped Chemoth, their own national god.  Like human beings everywhere they worshipped the works of their own hands and the idols of their own creating.  They were self-mongers to the absolute core.

As I wrote this, I began to have an internal debate about what many Christians try and do when they come upon a culture that has not heard of God.  They try to look at the culture and identify where God is already present.  {Most recently I heard this through a discussion of the Great White Spirit among native American Indian tribes – especially the Cherokee.}  Many Christians try to find God in the already present cultural expressions.  This is all well and good, we see Paul do this frequently in the New Testament as he goes about the Roman Empire establishing churches.

However, at some point the worship of the culture expression must stop.  At some point the worship of God must begin.  God has indeed hidden Himself all throughout creation and people who do not know God will find Him subtly and in a way that they cannot know Him.  But when the truth comes, the relationship with the unknown must stop in favor of the relationship with the known!

This is the error of the Moabites.  Prior to Abraham – and especially prior to Joshua – the Moabites would have never heard about God.  So they would have worshipped whatever they found in creation that drew them to God.  But when the Hebrew people are brought by God out of Egypt, the Moabites had every opportunity to develop this relationship with God.  They don’t.  They continue to worship their own creations and their own perceptions.  This stubbornness is why they are going to be judged and put under the yoke of the Babylonians.

Complacency

God also makes it clear that Moab’s complacency is reason for judgment.  They had never been taken into captivity.  They had never been oppressed.  They had never been subjugated.  They took pride in this.  It had made them complacent.

It had made them arrogant.  They assumed that they were better than others.  The Moabites grew in an unhealthy pride.  It was time for them to face judgment and experience a little humbleness before God.

This is another dynamic that I loathe about human nature.  Complacency is addictive.  We all seek that time and that place where the work is done, we feel like champions, and we can just sit back and relax.  After all, isn’t that what retirement means in the American Dream?  Are we not all longing for that time in our life when we’ve made enough that we can just kick back and “enjoy life?”  Is that not synonymous with “Look at how I’ve provided for myself?”  Is that not really what one of God’s major problems with Moab is in this chapter?  Their complacency has drawn them into pride and arrogance.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying it is wrong to be successful.  I’m also not saying it is wrong to save up and “retire.”  What I am saying is that it is wrong to do those things so that we can become complacent.  Our work on this world is never done.  God has always called us to do something in this life.  To become complacent about what we could be doing with and for God is tragic.

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Year 3, Day 99: Jeremiah 47

Babylonian Flood

This chapter against the Philistines is fairly short.  This is probably because at the time of Jeremiah the Philistines had dwindled in power substantially.  David and Solomon had done a good job in quenching their power.  Egypt had also taken its shots against the Philistines.  Even the Phonecians and Syrians had done their part in keeping the Philistines small and humble.  Therefore, there is not much to say to the Philistines.  Their time to be great was long past.

As bad as that sounds, this chapter doesn’t give much reason for greater hope, either.  The Philistines are told that the forces from the north are coming and will be swift.  In fact, Jeremiah calls the Babylonians a torrent.  They will rise quickly and flood everything.  They will become a super-power in the region and consume the known world.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had the opportunity to experience a flood first hand.  It is horrible.  It is next to impossible to stop the power of rising water.  Water can seep just about anywhere.  Even a thin flow of water with a strong enough current can lift heavy objects and thrash them about.  If water breaks into an area quickly it can pour into an area and flood it before people have a time to react.

These are all images that are given to the Philistines as they await the coming of Babylon.  It won’t be pretty.  It won’t be easy.  If there is any consolation, these verses seem to indicate that it will be quick.  Unlike the siege of Jerusalem that went on in various stages for decades, the Philistines will lose to the Babylonians very quickly.

Cutting Off Their Help

Through Jeremiah, God tells the Philistines to not get comfortable in their alliances, either.  God will see to it that Tyre and Sidon will not be able to come to their aid.  The Babylonian cavalry and charioteers will be so swift and so destructive that there will be no time for help to come.  In fact, so thorough will be their destruction that parents won’t be able to turn back for their children.

It is perhaps this last image that is the scariest for me.  I can’t imagine being in a situation where you feel so helpless that you wouldn’t even turn back to help your own children.  But that is precisely the image that God gives to the Philistines.  The Philistines will be so feeble that they will be unable to do anything against the Babylonian tide.  Judgment comes, and as I said before, it seems to come quickly.

Terror Of Judgment

The end of this chapter has much to say about the source of the Babylonian scourge.  The Babylonians come as the sword of the Lord’s judgment.  As we’ve heard all throughout this book, the Babylonians are being raised up to bring the whole of the land under God’s judgment.  They had their opportunities to turn to God and walk with Him.  Because they refused, judgment comes swift.

This doesn’t make the Babylonians innocent.  We’ll cover that in a few chapters – and I said often in Isaiah that the Babylonians would undergo a judgment of their own for the cruelty with which they went about God’s judgment.  But for now, we must understand that it is the Lord who is fundamentally behind all of this judgment at the hands of the Babylonians.

Jeremiah cries out for the sword of the Lord to be quiet.  It is difficult to know judgment.  It is hard to genuinely know God and watch even your enemies be judged.  This is the sign of true compassion.  Any human being can look on with favor and approval as the enemy falls.  Any human being can feel good in revenge.  It is a person in the Lord who is truly saddened at the judgment of their enemies.  Only those who are truly in the Lord can grieve for people who are fundamentally coming under the wrath of God.

Jeremiah cries out because of the pain that he knows will be associated with the sword of the Lord.

At the same time, though, Jeremiah knows that the sword of the Lord must come.  Jeremiah knows that if judgment never comes, then the Lord is not truly righteous.  Therefore, while Jeremiah would prefer not to have to watch other nations come under judgment he also realizes that such judgment is necessary.  God’s judgment must come forth.  If there is any hope of genuine repentance, God must come to us, judge us, convict us, and place us in a position to change.  If that never happens, then we will never change.  Without judgment, repentance is almost impossible.

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Year 3, Day 98: Jeremiah 46

Prophetic Voice To The Nations

Most of what remains in Jeremiah are a series of prophetic voices intended to be delivered to a specific nation.  It is in these final chapters that we see the fulfillment to God’s calling for Jeremiah way back in Jeremiah 1:5.  When God called Jeremiah, God called him to be a prophet to the nations.  So far in this book, we have walked with Jeremiah as he dealt with Judah – specifically Jerusalem.  Now we shall hear the voice of God as Jeremiah speaks to the surrounding nations.

It should not surprise us that Jeremiah starts with Egypt.  This is the country that started it all a millennium prior to Jeremiah.  It is now the country to which the rebellious Hebrew people have run once again.  There is no more fitting nation than Egypt to have as a beginning.

Things Don’t Go As Planned

This prophecy is written around 605 BC.  Pharaoh Necco had killed Josiah in battle.  Then, Pharaoh Necco had inspired Jehoiakim to revolt against Babylon.  Egypt had promised help to the Hebrew people but the Egyptians were unable to help.  It is at this time that this prophecy was penned by Jeremiah.

The opening poem is a poem of mocking.  Egypt has just lost in battle to Babylon.  They have turned tail and are fleeing back to Egypt.  God asks them where they are going.  God wonders where their arrogance and pride in their polished shields and other implements of warfare has gone.  They had been so sure that they could protect Judah.  They had convinced Judah that they could protect them.  They had been quite wrong.  God now mocks their wisdom as they see God’s truth and run away from it.

In the end, God tells Egypt that there will be no healing for them.  There will be no salve that they can put on their wound.  There will be no place that they can go and have a reprieve from their shame.  They overextended themselves in a prideful manner and fell.  It was to their shame.

Their Fall Comes In Stages

Egypt had lost a battle in 605 BC to Babylon.  But the reality is that Nebuchadnezzar won’t come to invade Egypt until about 571 BC.  For thirty years they live with the specter of Babylon threatening to their north.  Jeremiah tells Egypt that while it might take a while, Babylon is indeed coming for them.

The images towards the end of this second poetic section are haunting.  Jeremiah compares Egypt to a serpent slithering away in the grass while people come with axes.  What defense can a snake muster when a numerous opponent comes with sharp axes intent upon inflicting harm?  The snake can do nothing but retreat and pray to outlast the wrath of the larger human force.  Egypt will try to outlast Babylonian power.  But they won’t make it.

Jeremiah also compares Egypt’s warriors to fattened calves.  Of course, fattened calves were animals that were prepared for the slaughter.  God’s point couldn’t be clearer.  When Babylon came for Egypt, there would be much bloodshed on the side of Egypt.

Jeremiah also tells Egypt that her forests would be cut down.  Trees were one of the most valuable commodities in Egypt.  They didn’t have much access to lumber as most of their land was desert.  Jeremiah is telling Egypt in no uncertain terms that it’s most prized possessions would not be safe from the Babylonians.  They would come from the north and they would plunder the Egyptians.

In fact, the Babylonians are compared to locusts.  This will not be the first time that God will have used judgment in the form of locusts (or people compared to locusts).  The Babylonians will come and their armies will be so thick that they won’t even be able to be counted. 

Hope For The Hebrew People

In the midst of this dark prophecy on Egypt, God chooses to tell a prophetic voice to the Hebrew people.  Their destruction would not be complete.  They will be spared, although it will not be easy.  In fact, the words that God uses are “their destruction will not be complete.”  This is a very foreboding image.  There will be destruction, just not complete destruction.

It would be for this new generation of Hebrew captives as it was with the captives who once wandered through Sinai.  A generation perished wandering the desert.  But their offspring inherited the Promised Land.  So it will be for the captives now.  They were being dragged into captivity.  But the time would come when their offspring would return to the Promised Land.

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Year 3, Day 97: Jeremiah 44-45

Same Old, Same Old

The opening ten verses of Jeremiah 44 bring absolutely no comfort.  They also bring an incredible perspective on humanity.  Even in the face of great calamity, we are slow to change.

God lays down the law in these verses.  First of all, God is still none-too-pleased with the fact that many of the Hebrew people decided to go to Egypt.  God knows that nothing good happens to the Hebrew people when they head to Egypt.  They learn to follow other gods.  They are oppressed.  Yet here they are again, choosing to go back there.  They are ignoring the lessons that they could have learned if they just knew about their own history.

Second, God has an issue with their religious pursuits.  In Egypt, the people are already learning to follow foreign gods.  As if their forays with the Canaanite gods weren’t bad enough, they have even more to pick from now that they are in Egypt.  Every single one of them brings them further and further away from God.

Third, God takes issue with the fact that they have let themselves go “without a remnant.”  I’ll be honest here.  This is a new thought for me today, and I think it is a pretty deep one.  There is a remnant, of course.  But the remnant is in Babylon!  The remnant is among those who humbled themselves to God by surrendering to Babylon.  Those are the people that God is protecting.  Those are the people out of whom God will pull His remnant.  And these people in Egypt?  Well, they have cut themselves off of what God is doing in their midst.  What an incredibly tragic reality.  By their own choice (or by being taken hostage – for those like Jeremiah) they have cut themselves away from God’s provision.  What is really sad about this reality is that they were in God’s provision.  Had they just stayed in Judah even after the death of Gedaliah things would have been fine.  But now they have cut themselves off.  I wonder, how many times am I guilty of severing myself from what God desires to do in my life?

In the end, it still continues to be about humbleness.  For the most part, the kings of the Hebrew people did not humble themselves before God.  Their wives didn’t, either.  The individual households didn’t humble themselves before God – neither husband nor wife.  We continue to see people making decisions based on what they want to do rather than trusting God.  Humanity really does have an issue with humbleness, especially before God.

Rebellion

After Jeremiah gives this word of condemnation to the people, we get the expected response.  We don’t get the desired response.  We certainly don’t get the humble response.  But we do get the expected response.  The people will continue to rebel.

They believe themselves to be home here in Egypt.  They tell Jeremiah to his face that they will no longer listen to his words.  They will bow to the “queen of heaven” – probably a reference to Ishtar, a Babylonian goddess.

Then we see another problem with humanity.  We see just how flawed the human memory actually is.  The people – men and women alike – claim that they were fine when they worshipped the queen of heaven.  In fact, they claimed that it was when they stopped worshipping the queen of heaven that their life became worse.

The reality is that obedience to God had brought them prosperity.  It was their slow slide away from God’s ways that brought them into famine, disease, and war.  When they were humble before their God, things had gone well for them.  But human beings have flawed memory.  We remember things not according to what happened but how we internalize what happened.  In other words, we remember the past according to the way that makes sense to us.

Final Judgment

God ends this dialogue with the people by making one last promise.  God vows to let Egypt fall under judgment.  Just as the Hebrew people saw Jerusalem fall at God’s request so they shall see Egypt fall.  They will experience not one but two kingdoms fall over top of them. 

They will experience this for two reasons.  First, they brought judgment upon themselves.  They need even more of a fall from grace before they will learn to be humble.  Second, they will experience it to know who speaks for God and what God desires.  Even though they are disobedient, God has not fully given up.  God believes that with another fall and another culling of the people that a few faithful ones might remain.

More Timeline Issues

As we finish this blog post, we go into the very short chapter of Jeremiah 45.  This chapter is out of the chronology of Jeremiah once more.  This chapter would have been written immediately following the events of Jeremiah 36.  Baruch was discouraged.  He had suffered greatly.  It was hard watching his people fall and refuse to humble themselves.

Now I believe we see why this chapter has been moved to this place.  Jeremiah was likewise frustrated in Egypt.  It would be good for Jeremiah to remember the frustration of Baruch and God’s word to Baruch.  Being faithful to God while living in the world is usually a pretty frustrating endeavor.  We need the experience of the past to help us stay the course.

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Year 3, Day 96: Jeremiah 43

Wisdom Goes

The leaders make their fall complete.  They come to Jeremiah and accuse him of lying.  Oh, how the mighty have fallen!  Only a few days ago they had promised to listen to Jeremiah for good or for bad.  When they didn’t hear what they wanted, they accuse him of lying.

Remember the human perception of truth?  We tend to believe that which we desire to believe because it supports our own perception.  It is easy to think the earth is at the center of the universe because we see the sun, moon, and stars revolving around our horizon.  So we struggle believing that it is the earth that is moving around the sun.  Our perception – rather, our interpretation of our perception – always clouds our ability to receive truth.

Johanan and the other leaders are no different.  They believe the Babylonians are going to be harsh masters.  It doesn’t matter to them that God says the best course of action is to humble themselves.  They are predisposed to believing the Babylonians are not the best choice.

Here’s the really tragic part.  Looking back through history, we know the Babylonians were the right choice.  Nebuchadnezzar had a certain level of respect for the Hebrew people and especially God.  We know that when the Persians come onto the scene things dramatically improve.  God did know what he was talking about.

Looking back through time, we know that to be true.  Looking forward through time would have necessitated faith.  That is the one thing that we really do not see here in the Hebrew leaders.  {Surprise, surprise, surprise.}  There is no faith present.  They cannot see through the eyes through which Jeremiah sees.  Their minds are made up, just like Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah before them.  Leadership defined their culture; they are demonstrating that they are a product of that culture.

The Stones

The Lord tells Jeremiah to take stones and place them at the gate of a governmental building on the border of northern Egypt.  These stones would mark the place that Nebuchadnezzar would establish his throne.  God’s message to the Hebrew people is clear.  If they thought they were escaping Nebuchadnezzar’s influence, they would once more live under the terror that his army would bring.

I can only imagine how demoralizing this message must have been.  Imagine already living through the despicable nature of siege warfare.  Now you hear someone saying to get ready and do it all over again.  I think that message would have been enough to convince me to turn around and march right back into Nebuchadnezzar’s hands.  Better to surrender with God’s protection than be forced to live under a second siege under God’s wrath!

So much for the wisdom that, “It is better to reign in hell than serve in heaven,” right?  You would think that these people would have heard that message and realized that if God spoke rightly through Jeremiah once that God would do it again.  They should have responded.  They should have recognized truth.  But they didn’t.  Their hearts remained hard.  The threat was distant and they felt safe in their own schemes.

Just as a historical note, we don’t have any historical confirmation of Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest into Egypt.  We do have an artifact that hints to Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Egypt as occurring in 568-567 BC.  This artifact would generally agree with the prophecy of Ezekiel 29:19 which was given in 571 BC.

Judgment Against Egypt

I have to wonder something here.  Does God bring judgment upon Egypt because of the disobedience of the Hebrew people?  In other words, had Johanan and the other leaders obeyed the Lord’s word as spoken through Jeremiah, would the Lord have brought the Babylonians against Egypt?

We’ll never know the answer to that question.  But it should make us stop today and ponder the messiness of our sin.  When we sin, we don’t just impact ourselves.  We impact other people around us.  We impact innocent people – well, people who are innocent of our sin.

The other angle to this is if God was going to bring Babylon against Egypt anyway.  I personally believe this to be true.  In this case, how much does our sin put us in harm’s way of God dealing with other people’s sin?  Johanan’s decision to take the Hebrew people to Egypt only places them in the direct line of fire that God has trained upon Egypt! 

When we abide in the Lord, we are kept safe from His judgment.  But when we sin, we open ourselves up to all kinds of judgment. 

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Year 3, Day 95: Jeremiah 42

Fleeting Wisdom

Johanan does temporarily come to his senses before making a grievous error.  Before making a final decision to go to Egypt, he gathers up the rest of the leaders and the people and approaches Jeremiah.  They do come before the Lord.  In fact, the even promise to listen to what the Lord has to say – for good or for bad.

Here we see that Ishmael has not destroyed what God had started to do.  Under Gedaliah, God had started to bring the people back under His authority.  He had begun to teach them prosperity through humbleness to God.  In the opening verses of Jeremiah 42, we see that all is not completely lost.  Sin may have come against God’s plan, but sin had a chance to be thwarted.  The people are at least presenting themselves as humble before God by being humble before Jeremiah.

What’s really neat about this is that the people who remain in Judah appear to learn the lesson – or at least learn how to play the game.  They had listened to Jeremiah warn them about Jerusalem falling – even if they disagreed when they heard it the first time.  They had watched those warnings come true.  They watched as God tore them off of their self-made pedestal.  They had begun to see how their disobedience had brought this calamity upon them.  So now they are careful to promise obedience.  They know that the first step in repentance is recognizing your error and promising to act according to the proper behavior.

Jeremiah’s Response

Jeremiah hears the people and promises to pray.  I can only imagine what he is thinking at this point in the story.  For perhaps one of the first times in his prophetic career, Jeremiah actually sees people genuinely presenting an image of repentance!  Sure, there was the earlier incident when the Hebrew people in Jerusalem gave up their slaves.  But then they took them right back!  Here it seems like the people are genuine in their seeking after the Lord.  How great this moment must have felt for Jeremiah!

The word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah after some time before the Lord.  Here’s another interesting point.  Notice that we clearly hear that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after ten full days.  It’s a good thing the people under Johanan were not a people of immediate gratification!  The word of the Lord takes ten full days to come.

We as human beings are impatient.  We want an answer now.  We desire an immediate response.  We have an inner need to know and do.  Most if not all of us don’t sit and wait very well.  I know I don’t.

God, on the other hand, is not quick to move.  God takes His time.  This means that if we truly want to be on the same page as the Lord, sometimes we need to display patience instead of courage.  Sometimes we need to display an attitude of waiting rather than surging forward.  Sometimes we have to give God time to allow His grace to go before us.

As God’s word comes upon Jeremiah, it is a consistent word.  If the people go to Egypt, then the wrath that had fallen upon them in Jerusalem would follow.  This makes sense.  Once more the people find themselves with a choice to make.  Do they desire to abide in God and humble themselves under Nebuchadnezzar as God desire?  Or would they prefer to strike out against God’s wishes and live according to their own sense of right?  Once more we find the truth of the Old Testament resolving to a single question.  Are we willing to humble ourselves to God’s ways?

Truth is Hard

A few days ago I commented that we don’t like truth because truth reveals who we really are.  We especially don’t like God’s truth because it is always accurate in revealing precisely who we are.  How Jeremiah’s heart must have sank as the fullness of God’s word was revealed to him.

God essentially tells Jeremiah that the people aren’t going to listen.  Their hearts were already made up before they inquired of the Lord.  What looked like genuine repentance wasn’t really repentance at all.  It was a sham.  They had set their heart on journeying to Egypt.  They believed that in Egypt they wouldn’t have to fear Babylon and they wouldn’t hunger for bread as they had done in Jerusalem.  Although God warned them against going there, Jeremiah hears from the Lord that this is precisely the course of action that the people desire to do.

As we might expect, God’s word to Jeremiah ends with a curse.  They will die by the sword, famine, and pestilence.  An act that had begun with great promise – turning to the Lord and asking His desire – was going to once more end poorly.  The people hadn’t learned their lesson after all.  They gave all the outward appearances of being repentant, but they had none of the internal fortitude for repentance.

No wonder Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet.

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Year 3, Day 94: Jeremiah 41

Betrayal

Ishmael comes in peace to Gedaliah.  Gedaliah receives Ishmael and the 10 men that come with him.  In fact, Gedaliah receives them and invites them into his company.  The Jews and the Babylonian soldiers who were there to watch over the new government all sat down to eat with Ishmael.  It would be their last meal.

Ishmael slaughtered the people in Gedaliah’s company.  Gedaliah was an honorable man – if not far too trusting.  Ishmael has an easy time.  If fact, the assassination goes so well that even the next day nobody knows about it.  The next day mourners come looking for Gedaliah to mourn the state of Judah’s captivity.  Interestingly enough, these are mourners from the northern kingdom.  These are probably Hebrew people who were either refugees from the recent Babylonian conquest or more likely Israelites who had come south to mourn with the people of Judah with respect to their captivity.  Ishmael slaughtered these people as well.

We don’t really know why Ishmael slaughtered these 80 mourners.  However, it is likely that greed had something to do with it.  We know Ishmael was already a hired mercenary being paid to do these things by Ammon.  As Ishmael is killing the mourners, ten of these mourners cry out to be spared.  How do they get to be spared?  They know Ishmael’s key.  They buy their freedom with supplies hidden in a nearby field.  Ishmael seems to desire things, and he seems to be willing to use any means necessary to acquire possession of what he wants.  Greed takes over.

Isn’t it scary what greed will cause people to do?  How many of us have a price?  How much of our loyalty is really for sale?  On how many people are we willing to step in order to rise to the top?

The Cistern of Asa

Jeremiah takes a brief moment to explain the cistern of Asa.  Several hundred years prior to this tragedy, Baasha – king of Israel – had a war with Asa – king of Judah.  Asa built the cistern as a part of his defense against the advances against Baasha.  The cistern could have held water, supplies, or even fighting troops out of view.

What is sad is that this cistern which was once used to save lives was now being used to hide the dead.  What once had a glorious purpose was now being used to cover up sinful behavior.  Again we see a crystal clear presentation of how sin corrupts the things of this world.  It is not the cistern that is bad.  It is the person who is in control of the cistern that corrupts the cistern through their sinful behavior.

Advancing on to Ammon

Notice what Ishmael does next.  He takes all of the people who had been assigned to Gedaliah’s care and begins marching them towards Ammon.  Ishmael was delivering those who had humbled themselves to the idea of Babylonian captivity and instead using them as spoils of war with Ammon.  I think this act more than anything else exposes Ishmael’s true motivation.  Ishmael is even willing to use his fellow human beings as a means to profit and higher status.

Johanan Son of Kareah

Johanan, the son of Kareah – whom we know virtually nothing about, eventually hears about what is happening at Mizpah.  We don’t know if Johanan hears about the assassinations.  It could be that Johanan hears about the people of Gedaliah being dragged away towards Ammon.

Either way, we can learn that sin cannot be covered up forever.  Sin has a way of being found out.  Sin often grows too large to be hidden.  As we sin, sometimes we get so confident and even arrogant that we are no longer interested in hiding our sin.  Ishmael’s sinful actions become known to the people who remain in Judah.

However they found out, Johanan and the other officers of the army of Judah once more mobilize their men.  They go off to challenge Ishmael.  They are successful.  As they come upon Ishmael, the majority of Ishmael’s force has to flee.  The captives are spared and come under the protection of Johanan.

Johanan doesn’t plan on returning to Mizpah, however.  Johanan already knows the treachery that happened there once.  He likely figures that if it happened once it can happen again.  Johanan begins to plan to go to Egypt.  In Egypt, Johanan believes he can not only escape any revenge plot from Ishmael or Ammon but he also knows that he will be out of the reach of the Babylonians.

This is a fairly interesting point.  It seems that Johanan fears Babylonian return.  On one hand, this would make sense.  The ruler that Nebuchadnezzar appointed has been slain.  So has the Babylonian force left behind to make sure Gedaliah remained a faithful vassal.  There is reason to fear retribution.

However, Johanan can point to the ones responsible.  Johanan did nothing wrong.  Johanan could have trusted in the truth and not been overcome with his fear of Babylon.  Although Johanan did well in rescuing the captives from Ishmael, he did poorly in trusting the Lord’s provision and protection for those who humble themselves to the king of Babylon as the Lord desired.

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Year 3, Day 93: Jeremiah 40

Post Fall

For a short time, Jeremiah finds himself in chains.  He is dragged with the captives out of Jerusalem.  However, when it is found out who he is, he is released.  Actually, not only is he released but he is provided for.  And not only is he provided for, but he is given his choice of where to reside.

This is actually a pretty cool moment for Jeremiah.  Here is a prophet of God who has simply tried to live up to God’s calling.  In doing so, he became a fairly unpopular figure among his own people.  Yet, the Babylonians see great value in Jeremiah.  {For more information on Nebuchadnezzar’s personal relationship and struggle with God, see the book of Daniel.}  Jeremiah has gone from being treated with contempt and being imprisoned by his own people to being treated with respect and being shown honor by the so-called enemy.  This must have felt rather unusual for Jeremiah.

However, notice that Jeremiah stays in Jerusalem.  Had Jeremiah been in it for the accolades, he could have certainly gone back to Babylon and lived luxuriously in the court of Nebuchadnezzar.  But Jeremiah is not in it for the accolades.  Instead, Jeremiah stays in Jerusalem to live under Gedaliah, who Nebuchadnezzar appointed to rule the land now that Zedekiah has been replaced.

The Poorest of the Poor

Nebuchadnezzar leaves Gedaliah in charge over the Jerusalem area.  Anyone of any significance Nebuchadnezzar drags back to Babylon.  That leaves the poorest of the poor to work the land.  Gedaliah is now blessed with the opportunity to lead people who have never been in a position to have any kind of personal agenda before.

Additionally, some of the moving armies of Hebrews remain.  As with every army, just because the main army surrenders doesn’t mean that all the rest of the army has gotten the news.  So Gedaliah finds himself interacting with commanders of smaller Hebrew battalions who are asking what will happen to them if they surrender.  They want to know if the Babylonians will accept their surrender or if they will be killed.  Gedaliah is now in a position to advocate what Jeremiah tried to tell Zedekiah to do.  Gedaliah tells these leftover armies to surrender and lay down their arms.  They may become captive, but they will not be killed.

This is actually a really neat chapter in that sense.  Although it was accomplished by Babylonian force instead of internal humility, we see in this chapter what God wanted all along.  God wanted surrender.  God knew that through surrender, He could take humbleness and reshape His people.  God knew that when the people would give up their pride that He could begin teaching them again.  As Zedekiah and the leaders of his people are taken away, God is able to take people and provide for them a first harvest out of their most humble beginnings.  I think this is such a neat point in this chapter.  The Hebrew people took the hardest road possible to God’s will, but God’s will wins out in the end.

Division Still Exists

But, all is not perfect.  Just because God’s will finally comes and the Hebrew people are set up for a humble life doesn’t mean that everyone is on board.  One of the leaders of the remaining army comes to Gedaliah and tells him that the other leader is planning to assassinate him.

You might wonder what is happening here.  Of course, it is politics.  You see, the country of Ammon was a vassal of Babylon as was Judah.  As long as Judah was a bigger problem than Ammon, Babylon would focus its attention against Judah.  But now that Gedaliah was acting as a favorable vassal to Babylon, then Nebuchadnezzar could turn his armies elsewhere – like Ammon.

So, Ammon is very interested in getting rid of Gedaliah so that someone else would be put in power – someone who would be interested in making commotion against Babylon.  Ammon would be interested in encouraging yet another coup in Jerusalem.  Because that’s what they need as they begin to get their feet back under them.  {That last sentence was sarcastic, just in case it doesn’t read that way…}

Anyway, this got me thinking.  How quick is the world to come in and put God’s plan under attack.  No sooner do things start heading in the right direction than they are immediately under attack.  God finally has the Hebrew people reduced to the poorest of the poor and they are becoming willing to submit.  Then arrogance and self-serving rears its ugly head once more.  This is just the way of the world, isn’t it?

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Year 3, Day 92: Jeremiah 39

Prophecy

This is a dark chapter in Jeremiah.  The wall is breached.  The siege is over.

Zedekiah and many of his men flee.  They are pursued by the Babylonians.  They are captured.

Zedekiah is forced to watch the execution of his sons.  Then his eyes are gouged out.  Perhaps the last sight he ever had was watching the death of his offspring.  The price to pay for rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar is high.  For the record, the price to pay for rebellion against God is even higher.

The city is burned.  The king’s palace – what’s left of it after they tore it apart to bolster the walls – is burned.  They destroyed the walls of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah’s prophecy comes true.  The city is burned.  People die by the sword.  Jerusalem is breached.  They did not survive the siege.  As dark as Jeremiah’s prophecy had been, it was true.  God knew the heart of the people.  He knew that they would not repent in any meaningful manner.

What few people remained – those who hadn’t deserted to the Babylonians – are dragged off into captivity.  This is the end of the golden age.  This is the last time that there will be a king on the throne.  From this day forward the Hebrew people will be under the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans …

This is the end of the golden age.  It ends in a whimper.  It ends barely even in the shadow of the days in which it began with such promise.  It ends much like the exodus – another story that began with such promise.  It ends in rebellion against God.

Reprieve

Yet, we find a surprise in this chapter.  Nebuchadnezzar has heard of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah has heard of this prophet whose adversaries had tried to bury him deep in a prison and in a muddy cistern.  Nebuchadnezzar saw what Jeremiah’s own people did not.

In retrospect, this really shouldn’t surprise us.  I’m sure every single one of the defectors came to the Babylonians talking about how Jeremiah had advised them to accept captivity over certain death.  With every one of the defecting Hebrew people Nebuchadnezzar’s appreciation for Jeremiah had to grow.  I’m not saying that Jeremiah said those things to save his own neck.  Jeremiah said those things because God told him to say them.  But through Jeremiah’s loyalty to God, God finds a way to save Jeremiah through Nebuchadnezzar himself.

Nebuchadnezzar sends a message with one of his officials to make sure that Jeremiah is treated well.  In fact, the message Nebuchadnezzar sends is that Jeremiah is to be treated as Jeremiah says to treat him.  That is pretty powerful considering that Jeremiah is a casualty of war.

The Ethiopian’s Reprieve

Jeremiah is not the only one spared in this passage.  Ebed-melech, the man who rescued Jeremiah from the cistern, is also spared.  God tells Jeremiah to tell Ebed-melech that he will see the destruction of the city.  However, Ebed-melech does not need to fear.  In the day that the city is destroyed, God will find a way to spare this Ethiopian who was obedient to God and faithful to Jeremiah.

This is not an easy chapter to read if we step back and consider exactly what is going on.  However, if we take another step back and understand the scope of why it is happening, it is easier to swallow.  God sent prophet after prophet.  God sent message after message through Jeremiah.  God told them to repent.

The people – and the leaders especially – refused to repent.  They now suffer the consequences of their own actions.  It is difficult to watch people when the consequences catch up with them.

However, we also know this is part of the learning process.  Because the consequences of their rebellion do catch up with the Hebrew people, they will have an opportunity to change and reform in captivity.  They will have an opportunity to rededicate themselves to God under the Babylonians.  It’s difficult to watch; it’s even more difficult to read.  But it is a necessary step to true repentance.  That is what is ultimately important.

A restored relationship with God is worth counting the cost.

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Year 3, Day 91: Jeremiah 38

Cistern

Apparently, confining Jeremiah to the courtyard wasn’t bad enough.  Within the courtyard there was a cistern.  At the bottom of the cistern was mud.  That is where Jeremiah was cast.  So much for Zedekiah’s promise to watch over his imprisonment.  Zedekiah even gives permission.

Why was Jeremiah thrown in the cistern?  Jeremiah was speaking the truth.  Jeremiah was telling people that God promised those who stayed in Jerusalem would die by sword, famine, or pestilence.  In other words, the people who listened to Jeremiah were being encouraged to leave Jerusalem and desert to the captivity of the Babylonians where they would survive.  The fighting force inside Jerusalem was being whittled away slowly and steadily by Jeremiah’s prophetic voice.  {For the record, personally I believe this a far better reason to be imprisoned than what landed him in the courtyard!}

When I thought about this, I had to really go back and take a look at the common perceptions humans bring to truth.  One of the first qualities that human beings look for in truth is “does it support what I believe in?”  I hate to say this, but it is true.  We humans think that truth starts with the things with which we agree.

Do I really need to bring up the ideas of Copernicus and the more controversial Galileo? 

Human beings gravitate towards what they want to hear and what supports their frame of reference.  That’s why we don’t actually like hearing truth.  Truth makes us change.  Truth reveals who we really are.  Truth demonstrates our actual present reality to ourselves.

The leaders of Jerusalem didn’t want to hear God’s truth through Jeremiah.  They didn’t want to face humbling themselves before God via the Babylonians.  They certainly didn’t want their soldiers deserting to the other side.  They were closed to truth, substituting their own construct of truth in the place of God’s truth.

Mud

Jeremiah sank into the mud.  In those days, a cistern was usually a large hemispherical cut into bedrock.  The cut was then covered in plaster and allowed to dry.  This way, it would catch rainwater.  Typically, as the rainwater flowed into the cistern the water also brought dirt.  As the water dried up from the drought that God sent, the dirt that had collected in the bottom of the cistern turned to mud.  Jeremiah became mired in the mud.

I love this analogy.  The mud only becomes an issue because God has sent a drought to punish the Hebrew people.  Jeremiah becomes caught in the mud. This is a symbolic act of Jeremiah being caught up in Jerusalem because of the Hebrew people’s sin and refusal to repent.  Just as Jeremiah gets mired in mud, Jerusalem is mired in rebellion.

Jeremiah Rescued

An Ethiopian comes to Jeremiah’s defense.  Not even one of his own people comes to save Jeremiah!  But this Ethiopian comes and Jeremiah is rescued.

Look at the spineless nature of Zedekiah.  First, he was a political puppet installed by Nebuchadnezzar.  Then he was convinced by his own people to rebel, bringing the Babylonian army to once again lay siege to the city.  Zedekiah was swayed by the court officials to throw Jeremiah in prison.  Jeremiah swayed Zedekiah to allow him to be moved to the courtyard.  Then Zedekiah was swayed to throw Jeremiah into a cistern.  Now Zedekiah is swayed to allow Jeremiah to be brought up from the cistern.

A couple of days back I gave this truism: leadership defines culture.  Is there any wonder that the Hebrew people were so weak and easily swayed?  Look at their leader in Zedekiah!  What a pathetic man.  He is like a reed, blown around in every direction by the wind.

It is important for leaders to bend.  Leaders do need to listen to their constituents.  But leaders must also see the vision and always be moving towards the vision.  Leaders set the general course and help the people move towards the goal.  When a leader doesn’t lead, the people are all over the map.  This is what we see here in Jeremiah regarding Zedekiah.  I am reminded of Jesus’ words to the church of Laodicea in the Revelation according to John.  “Since you are lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth.”

Zedekiah’s Second Interview with Jeremiah

Zedekiah asks for another meeting with Jeremiah.  Jeremiah’s message from God remains unchanged.  {God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, right?}  But Zedekiah refuses to listen to the message.  Zedekiah refuses to heed.  He refuses to be humble.

Zedekiah is afraid.  He’s afraid of what the people in Jerusalem would think, so he tells Jeremiah to lie about the reason of his visit.  Zedekiah is also afraid of what the deserters will do to him should Zedekiah surrender, so Zedekiah won’t surrender.  Fear seizes hold of Zedekiah.  Fear causes Zedekiah to remain spineless.

Courage is not what a person does in the absence of fear.  Courage is what someone does in spite of fear while being in the presence of fear.  Jeremiah demonstrates courage.  Zedekiah does not.  This chapter should prove where the true leadership of Jerusalem resided.

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Year 3, Day 90: Jeremiah 37

Chronology Regained!

Jeremiah 37-39 bring us back to the chronology of Jeremiah 33-34.  Zedekiah is back on the throne.  Jerusalem is in the midst of its last breaths.  Jeremiah and Zedekiah – or should I say the Lord and Zedekiah – are having their last gasps of struggle.  Here we have confirmation of the time when Pharaoh came out of Egypt to challenge Babylon.  Remember when the Hebrew people gave up their slaves only to take them back?  This is now where Jeremiah 37 falls into place.

Zedekiah’s Appeal

Zedekiah sends out a delegation to ask Jeremiah to pray for him and the people of Jerusalem.  I laugh at moments like this in the Bible – or moments like this in life.  I find it highly ironic that people who will not humble themselves before God fall and ask prayer from those who do.  It is such a brash and bold move of utter arrogance and self-centeredness.  Here Zedekiah is saying, “I have no place to go, we’re at our end, I won’t turn and humble myself to God, and I certainly won’t change to live according to His ways; but if it pleases you, pray that this God with whom I don’t have any kind of relationship will be merciful and save us.”  Zedekiah is hoping that the prayers of a godly man will make up for his own lack of relationship with God.  For the record, they don’t.

As an aside, I do pray in those situations.  There is no reason not to pray.  I pray for God’s will to be done and I pray for God to come meaningfully into the life of the person who asks.  Much like Jeremiah does here.  Jeremiah does pray for the situation in Jerusalem.  Just because there is irony is no reason not to take the request seriously and honor the prayer.

Jeremiah also receives a righteous response from God.  God tells Jeremiah that Zedekiah will be judged.  The Babylonians (Chaldeans) will come back.  They will finish off what the Lord has called them to do.  Pharaoh will be chased back to Egypt and the Babylonians will complete the work that they began.

The Bleakness of the Response

In fact, look at what God says.  Even if the Babylonians should return and they should reach a point where every single soldier is wounded and recovering in their tents – even then, they will have enough strength to capture Jerusalem.  There is no hope for Jerusalem as long as they refuse to repent and turn back to God.  Their self-centered arrogance is the bed in which they will lay down and never get up again.  The generations who humble themselves after the fall will get up again, but this generation will not.

Jeremiah Imprisoned

It is now at this point that we understand why it is that Jeremiah finds himself in prison.  The details are surprising.  It is natural to assume that Jeremiah would be in prison because of his oracles against Jerusalem.  It is reasonable to think that Jeremiah is imprisoned because of the harsh critique he gives over the utter lack of faith among the people.  But no.  These are not the reasons for which Jeremiah finds himself imprisoned.  Jeremiah finds himself imprisoned because people think that he is deserting to go and help the Babylonians.  Jeremiah was heading to Anatoth to take care of some personal business.  For that of all things he finds himself imprisoned!

Zedekiah’s Interview with Jeremiah

Zedekiah sends for Jeremiah.  Zedekiah asks if there is a word from the Lord.  Remember, this is Zedekiah, who refuses to humble himself to God, who now has the gall to ask a prisoner if there is any word from the Lord.

Zedekiah gets what he deserves.  Jeremiah tells him that there is a word from the Lord.  The word is not favorable, but it is consistent.  Zedekiah will be delivered over to the hands of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.  I can imagine the satisfaction that it gave Jeremiah to say those words – especially as a man made prisoner in his own city.

Then Jeremiah argues against his imprisonment.  Jeremiah argues that if the Lord is right and the Chaldeans are coming back, he really has no place to go.  He’s a prisoner in Jerusalem – they all are.  So he argues to be kept in the courtyard rather than in a dark house that has been converted into a prison.  In a stroke of compassion, Zedekiah grants the request.

This passage makes me consider how we treat people who disagree with us.  Do we seek to lock them up?  Do we seek to have conversation?  Do we seek to get them back onto our side?  Do we seek to protect them if they are in the minority?  Or do we simply seek to banish them, get rid of them, and be done with their witness?

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