Jeremiah :

1. Jeremiah: A Story about God’s Faithfulness

2. Some guidelines for reading the Bible • Context • God meets with people where they are • “Truth” is progressively unfolded in the Bible • God has an Enemy • The Bible should be read primarily as a story about God • The story climax is Jesus

3. Chronology

5. “The LORD spoke to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah, and he spoke to him again when Josiah's son Jehoiakim was king. After that, the LORD spoke to him many times, until the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah. In the fifth month of that year the people of Jerusalem were taken into exile.” (Jeremiah 1:2-3)

6. “Sovereign LORD, I don’t know how to speak; I am too young.” (Jeremiah 1:6)

7. Manasseh 696 (695)-642 B.C.: Jeremiah born ˜ 645 B.C. • Amon 642–640 B.C.: Jeremiah still a child • Josiah (640-609 BC): Jeremiah called by God (age 19-20) chapters 1-6; 14-16 • Jehoahaz (609 BC): reigned only three months. • Jehoiakim (609-598 BC): Jeremiah 17; 7-11; 26; 35; 22:1-19; 25; 18-20; 36:1-4; 45; 36:5-32; 12. • Jehoiachin (598-597 BC): Jeremiah 22:20-30; 13; 23. • Zedekiah (597-586 BC): Jeremiah 24; 29-31; 46-51; 27; 28; 21; 34; 32; 33; 37-39 • After the fall of Jerusalem: Jeremiah 40-44; 52. • Jeremiah dies: sometime around 580 B.C. (age 65) • Credit to Ken Hart and Theox.org

9. “But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not say that you are too young, but go to the people I send you to, and tell them everything I command you to say. Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken!’ Then the LORD reached out, touched my lips, and said to me, ‘Listen, I am giving you the words you must speak. Today I give you authority over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’” (Jeremiah 1:7-10)

10. “I am now making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.” (Jeremiah 5:14) • “My message is like a fire and like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces.” (Jeremiah 23:29)

11. “The Father judges no one. He has given his Son the full right to judge…” (John 5:22) • “I came to this world to judge, so that the blind should see and those who see should become blind.” (John 9:39) • “Those who reject me and do not accept my message have one who will judge them. The words I have spoken will be their judge on the last day!” (John 12:47-48)

12. Making the diagnosis

13. The Diagnosis • “The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ My own priests did not know me.” (Jeremiah 2:8) • “My people are stupid; they don’t know me. They are like foolish children; they have no understanding.” (Jeremiah 4:22) • “The LORD says, ‘The wise should not boast of their wisdom, nor the strong of their strength, nor the rich of their wealth. If any want to boast, they should boast that they know and understand me, because… • my love is constant, and I do what is just and right.’” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

14. The Message • “No other nation has ever changed its gods, even though they were not real. But my people have exchanged me, the God who has brought them honor, for gods that can do nothing for them…Israel, you brought this on yourself ! You deserted me, the LORD your God, while I was leading you along the way. What do you think you will gain by going to Egypt to drink water from the Nile? What do you think you will gain by going to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates?” (Jeremiah 2:11, 17-18)

15. “You will all be disgraced---you that say that a tree is your father and that a rock is your mother. This will happen because you turned away from me instead of turning to me. But when you are in trouble, you ask me to come and save you. ‘Where are the gods that you made for yourselves? When you are in trouble, let them save you---if they can! Judah, you have as many gods as you have cities. What is your complaint? Why have you rebelled against me? I punished you, but it did no good; you would not let me correct you. Like a raging lion, you have murdered your prophets.” (Jeremiah 2:27-30)

16. “…you deny that you have sinned” • “Only admit that you are guilty and that you have rebelled against the LORD, your God. Confess that under every green tree you have given you love to foreign gods…” (Jeremiah 2:35; 3:13) • “Stop believing those deceitful words, ‘We are safe! This is the LORD’s temple, “This is the LORD’s temple, this is the LORD’s temple!’” (Jeremiah 7:4)

17. “The LORD says, ‘Israel, I wanted to accept you as my child and give you a delightful land, the most beautiful land in all the world. I wanted you to call me father and never again turn away from me. But like an unfaithful wife, you have not been faithful to me. I, the LORD, have spoken.’ A noise is heard on the hilltops: it is the people of Israel crying and pleading because they have lived sinful lives and have forgotten the LORD their God. Return, all of you who have turned away from the LORD; he will heal you and make you faithful.” (Jeremiah 3:19-22)

18. “In Hinnom Valley they have built an altar called Topheth, so that they can sacrifice their sons and daughters in the fire. I did not command them to do this---it did not even enter my mind.” (Jeremiah 7:31)

19. My sorrow cannot be healed; I am sick at heart…My heart has been crushed because my people are crushed; I mourn; I am completely dismayed. Is there no medicine in Gilead? Are there no doctors there? Why, then, have my people not been healed?...I wish my head were a well of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I could cry day and night for my people who have been killed. I wish I had a place to stay in the desert where I could get away from my people. They are all unfaithful, a mob of traitors. (Jeremiah 8:18, 21, 22; 9:1-2)

20. “The enemy will surround the city and try to kill its people. The siege will be so terrible that the people inside the city will eat one another and even their own children.” (Jeremiah 19:9)

21. The story • “The LORD informed me of the plots that my enemies were making against me. I was like a trusting lamb taken out to be killed, and I did not know that it was against me that they were planning evil things. They were saying, ‘Let's chop down the tree while it is still healthy; let's kill him so that no one will remember him any more.’” (Jeremiah 11:18-19)

22. “Again the LORD spoke to me and said, ‘Do not marry or have children in a place like this. I will tell you what is going to happen to the children who are born here and to their parents. They will die of terrible diseases, and no one will mourn for them or bury them. Their bodies will lie like piles of manure on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation, and their bodies will be food for the birds and the wild animals.’” (Jeremiah 16:1-4)

23. “Then the people said, ‘Let’s do something about Jeremiah! There will always be priests to instruct us, the wise to give us counsel, and prophets to proclaim God’s message. Let’s bring charges against him and stop listening to what he says.’ So I prayed, ‘LORD, hear what I am saying and listen to what my enemies are saying about me. Is evil the payment for good? Yet they have dug a pit for me to fall in.’” (Jeremiah 18:18-20)

24. “Curse the day I was born! Forget the day my mother gave me birth! Curse the one who made my father glad by bringing him the news, ‘It’s a boy! You have a son!’…Why was I born? Was it only to have trouble and sorrow, to end my life in disgrace? (Jeremiah 20:14-18)

25. “Soon after Josiah's son Zedekiah became king of Judah, the LORD told me to make myself a yoke out of leather straps and wooden crossbars and to put it on my neck.” (Jeremiah 27:1-2) • “…in the fourth year that Zedekiah was king…Hananiah took the yoke off my neck and broke it in pieces.” (Jeremiah 28:1,10)

26. “Then the king sent…to get the scroll. He took it…and read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him. It was winter and the king was sitting in his winter palace in front of the fire. As soon as [he] finished reading three or four columns, the king cut them off with a small knife and threw them into the fire. He kept doing this until the entire scroll was burned up. But neither the king nor any of his officials who heard all this was afraid or showed any sign of sorrow.” (Jeremiah 36:21-24)

27. “They were furious with me and had me beaten and locked up in the house of Jonathan, the court secretary, whose house had been made into a prison. I was put in an underground cell and kept there a long time.” (Jeremiah 37:15-16)

28. “So they took me and let me down by ropes into [the] well, which was in the palace courtyard. There was no water in the well, only mud, and I sank down in it.” (Jeremiah 38:6)

29. “King Zedekiah had me brought to him at the third entrance to the Temple, and he said, ‘I am going to ask you a question, and I want you to tell me the whole truth.’ I answered, ‘If I tell you the truth, you will put me to death, and if I give you advice, you won't pay any attention.’ So King Zedekiah promised me in secret, ‘I swear by the living God, the God who gave us life, that I will not put you to death or hand you over to the men who want to kill you.’ Then I told Zedekiah that the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, ‘If you surrender to the king of Babylonia's officers, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned down. Both you and your family will be spared. But if you do not surrender…

30. But the king answered, ‘I am afraid of our own people who have deserted to the Babylonians. I may be handed over to them and tortured…Don't let anyone know about this conversation, and your life will not be in danger. If the officials hear that I have talked with you, they will come and ask you what we said. They will promise not to put you to death if you tell them everything. Just tell them you were begging me not to send you back to prison to die there.’” (Jeremiah 38:14-26)

31. “In the tenth month of the ninth year (1) that Zedekiah was king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia came with his whole army and attacked Jerusalem. On the ninth day of the fourth month (2) of Zedekiah's eleventh year as king, the city walls were broken through.” (Jeremiah 39:1-2) • (1) mid-November 589 B.C. • (2) mid-July 587 B.C.

32. “But King Nebuchadnezzar commanded Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, to give the following order: ‘Go and find Jeremiah and take good care of him. Do not harm him, but do for him whatever he wants.’” (Jeremiah 39:11-12)

33. “The commanding officer took me aside and said, ‘The LORD your God threatened this land with destruction, and now he has done what he said he would. All this happened because your people sinned against the LORD and disobeyed him. Now, I am taking the chains off your wrists and setting you free. If you want to go to Babylonia with me, you may do so, and I will take care of you. But if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. You have the whole country to choose from, and you may go wherever you wish.’” (Jeremiah 40:2-4)

34. “I went to stay with Gedaliah in Mizpah and lived among the people who were left in the land.” (Jeremiah 40:6) • “Then all the army leaders…came with people of every class and said to me, ‘Please do what we ask you! Pray to the LORD our God for us. Pray for all of us who have survived. Once there were many of us; but now only a few of us are left, as you can see. Pray that the LORD our God will show us the way we should go and what we should do.’ I answered, ‘Very well, then.

35. I will pray to the LORD our God, just as you have asked, and whatever he says, I will tell you. I will not keep back anything from you.’ Then they said to me, ‘May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not obey all the commands that the LORD our God gives you for us. Whether it pleases us or not, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are asking you to pray. All will go well with us if we obey him.’” (Jeremiah 42:1-6)

36. “Ten days later the LORD spoke to me; so I called together Johanan, all the army leaders who were with him, and all the other people. I said to them, ‘The LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me with your request has said, 'If you are willing to go on living in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not pull you up. The destruction I brought on you has caused me great sorrow. Stop being afraid of the king of Babylonia. I am with you, and I will rescue you from his power. Because I am merciful, I will make him have mercy on you and let you go back home. I, the LORD, have spoken.’” (Jeremiah 42:7-12)

37. “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will be a horrifying sight; people will make fun of you and use your name as a curse. You will never see this place again.’” (Jeremiah 42:18)

38. “Then Azariah…and Johanan…and all the other arrogant men said to me, • ‘You are lying. The LORD our God did not send you to tell us not to go and live in Egypt. Baruch…has stirred you up against us, so that the Babylonians will gain power over us and can either kill us or take us away to Babylonia.’” (Jeremiah 43:2-3)

39. “Then Johanan and all the army officers took everybody left in Judah away to Egypt, together with all the people who had returned from the nations where they had been scattered: the men, the women, the children, and the king's daughters. They took everyone whom Nebuzaradan the commanding officer had left under the care of Gedaliah, including Baruch and me. They disobeyed the LORD’s command and went into Egypt as far as the city of Tahpanhes.” (Jeremiah 43:5-7)

40. “The LORD spoke to me concerning all the Israelites living in Egypt… • The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, said, ‘You yourselves have seen the destruction I brought on Jerusalem and all the other cities of Judah. Even now they are still in ruins, and no one lives in them because their people had done evil and had made me angry. They offered sacrifices to other gods and served gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever worshiped. I kept sending you my servants the prophets, who told you not to do this terrible thing that I hate. But you would not listen or pay any attention.

41. You would not give up your evil practice of sacrificing to other gods. So I poured out my anger and fury on the towns of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem, and I set them on fire. They were left in ruins and became a horrifying sight, as they are today. And so I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, now ask why you are doing such an evil thing to yourselves. Do you want to bring destruction on men and women, children and babies, so that none of your people will be left? Why do you make me angry by worshiping idols and by sacrificing to other gods here in Egypt, where you have come to live? Are you doing this just to destroy yourselves, so that every nation on earth will make fun of you and use your name as a curse?” (Jeremiah 44:1-8)

42. “Then all the men who knew that their wives offered sacrifices to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, including the Israelites who lived in southern Egypt---a large crowd in all---said to me, ‘We refuse to listen to what you have told us in the name of the LORD. We will do everything that we said we would. We will offer sacrifices to our goddess, the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out wine offerings to her, just as we and our ancestors, our king and our leaders, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, we were prosperous, and had no troubles. But ever since we stopped sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and stopped pouring out wine offerings to her, we have had nothing, and our people have died in war and of starvation.’” (Jeremiah 44:15-18)

44. The story • “The LORD informed me of the plots that my enemies were making against me. I was like a trusting lamb taken out to be killed, and I did not know that it was against me that they were planning evil things. They were saying, ‘Let's chop down the tree while it is still healthy; let's kill him so that no one will remember him any more.’” (Jeremiah 11:18-19)

46. Narrative vs. Doctrine approach • “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16) • “Love is patient…” (1 Cor. 13:4) • “Love does not keep track of wrongs…” (vs. 5) • “Love is not self-seeking…” (vs. 5) • “Love never gives up…” (vs. 7)