Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 51-52.

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After the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah once more prophesied the fall of Babylon.  He did this at the height of Babylon’s power, immediately after Babylon sacked Jerusalem.  God had used Babylon to punish His people, but this did not make Babylon any less evil.  At a time when Babylon seemed to be the center of the world, when Babylon was the center of the world, God told His people not to think it would be forever.  As powerful as Babylon was, Jeremiah reminds God’s people that the God who created the universe is more powerful.

There is a line early in the passage which says, “We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed.”  I do not know what it means in context, but I will give meaning which I see in it today.  It strikes me as telling us that we can strive to heal the society we live in by showing them God’s will for them, but if they do not seek Him and accept Him they will not be healed.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 49-50.

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Yesterday the laptop I have been doing these Bible studies on crashed and I spent all day trying to fix it.  I was able to get it working somewhat, but it will need to be replaced.  As a result, I ended up not writing about Jeremiah’s prophecies against some of the nations around Israel and Judah.  Today’s passage continues with prophecies against other nations.  Then once all of those prophecies have been recorded, the Book of Jeremiah concludes with Jeremiah prophesying the fall of Babylon.  I struggle with understanding the Book of Jeremiah as a whole because the things recorded in it are not recorded in chronological order.  I am convinced that the Book of Jeremiah began as the scroll which Jeremiah dictated to Baruch to replace the one which Jehoiakim burnt.  Later someone, perhaps Jeremiah, added other prophecies which God gave to Jeremiah.  So, it seems like these prophecies against various nations and against Babylon were given throughout Jeremiah’s career as a prophet, not all at the end as a careless reader might conclude.  My point being that despite Jeremiah prophesying Babylon’s victory over Jerusalem, he was not a traitor to his people and a partisan for Babylon.  He prophesied against whomever God gave him words to speak.

And I do have something we can learn from today’s passage.  Jeremiah’s prophecies concerning these nations reads as if they thought that Israel and Judah deserved the suffering they experienced, and the Bible tells us that they did.  However, Jeremiah tells these nations that instead of looking at Israel and Judah, those nations should have been looking at themselves.  They were just as guilty of sinning against God, and faced the same judgement from Him.  When we look at others and see how God brings judgement upon them for their sins, we should examine ourselves for what sins we have that might provoke God’s judgement.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 45-48.

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Today’s passage begins with a prophecy to Baruch.  It appears that Baruch had ambitions which were not to be fulfilled.  Jeremiah tells Baruch that he would not achieve his ambitions, but that God would care for him in all the places he would end up.  We should not put too small a thought on how valuable this promise from God was.  It was given during the reign of Jehoiakim, so it was followed by a lot of hard times and by many prophecies from Jeremiah speaking of how much those living in Jerusalem would suffer.  We should bear this in mind when it appears to us that our society is calling down God’s judgement upon themselves.  Often when I read the Book of Jeremiah I wonder if perhaps our society has gotten to the point where disaster cannot be avoided, where God will withhold His judgement no longer.  That is a frightening thought.  However, we must remember that God is faithful to those who are faithful.  I did not touch on it, but, in chapter 39, God gave Jeremiah a similar prophecy for Ebed-Melech, who rescued Jeremiah from the cistern into which he had been thrown.   So, I will repeat, God is faithful to those who are faithful to Him.

I had intended to write some about Jeremiah’s prophecies concerning the nations, but I am going to stop here.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 42-44.

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After the assassination of the governor appointed by the Babylonians the people remaining in Judah were afraid that the Babylonians would launch a reprisal.  So, they asked Jeremiah to pray to God for guidance as to what they should do.  They told Jeremiah that they would do whatever God told Jeremiah they should do.  However, when Jeremiah came back to them with God’s answer, they accused him of lying and did exactly what Jeremiah said that God told them not to do.  Despite Jeremiah telling them that they should not go to Egypt, they went to Egypt.  Once they were in Egypt they began worshiping other gods.  God sent Jeremiah to them to call them back to Him.  Jeremiah accused them of not humbling themselves, of not fearing God, and not walking according to God’s laws.  Rather than repent of their sins, the people responded by claiming that they had been prosperous in Jerusalem when they worshiped these idols and that their troubles began when they abandoned them.  So, they were returning to this idolatry.

In the past I had taken the claim that they were merely returning to the idolatrous practices of their ancestors at face value.  In reading the passage today, I realized that the writer never confirms that their idolatry in Egypt was a revival of practices they had previously followed.  That is not really my focus here, just something I wanted to note.

I want to focus on the fact that before they went to Egypt, they consulted God about what they should do.  Then they did the opposite of what God revealed to them.  Then once they were in Egypt they began worshiping the “queen of heaven.”  Let us not do as they did.  If we ask God for guidance, let us do what He guides us to do.  Specifically, we should not do what He tells us not to do.  Actually, that is an important lesson for me.  I have been struggling with choices and asking God to guide me.  I had decided to do something yesterday to address my problems, but God sent someone to me which prevented me from taking that action.  Now I must decide if that was God telling me not to do that.  In any case, now I must humble myself and walk in the fear of the Lord.  Seeking to walk according to His laws.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 39-41.

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Today’s passage begins by showing us that Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning King Zedekiah was fulfilled.  I do not really have any spiritual lessons from today’s passage.  I do however have some questions.  The passage tells us that after the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah was released to go where he wished.  It tells us that Jeremiah went and lived with Gedaliah at Mizpah.  Then it says that, after killing Gedaliah, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah.  Further, it tells us that he killed most of a group of pilgrims who passed by on their way to Jerusalem.  Which leads me to wonder why Ishmael did not kill Jeremiah.  I know that God was protecting Jeremiah, but what was Ishmael thinking?

Which brings me to another point which I do not fully understand.  The passage tells us that there were eighty men bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple, but the temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians.  And it had been long enough ago at this point that everyone would have known this to be true.  This suggests to me that the Jews continued to offer sacrifices in Jerusalem in the ruins of the temple.  I want to note that some of these men came from Samaria.  I had thought that those who lived in the areas which had been part of the Northern Kingdom had begun worshiping at Mount Gerizim after the fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria (with a few sporadic exceptions).  This suggests that the practice of regularly worshiping at Mount Gerizim began sometime after the time of this passage.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 36-38.

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Two different kings of Judah are featured in today’s passage, both sons of King Josiah.  One showed contempt for Jeremiah.  One showed Jeremiah respect.  Neither obeyed the commands which God sent to them through Jeremiah.  During the reign of Jehoiakim, God commanded Jeremiah to write down all of the prophecies which God had given to Jeremiah. God told Jeremiah that this was done to give the people of Judah the opportunity to turn from their evil ways.  Specifically, God said that He was sending this warning “so that every one may turn from his evil way.”  This was a call for each person to repent and receive forgiveness.  Certain officials gathered to hear the words Jeremiah had written down and were frightened by what they heard.  They then took the scroll and had it read for King Jehoiakim and “the officials who stood beside the king.”  Neither the king, nor this second group of officials was frightened by the words which Jeremiah had spoken.  Rather King Jehoiakim cut the words off the scroll after they had been written and burned them, showing contempt for what he had heard.  Jehoiakim tried to have Jeremiah and his secretary Baruch arrested, but his agents were unable to find them.

After Jehoiakim died his brother Zedekiah became king (you can read how that happened in 2 Chronicles).  When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem (after Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon), Zedekiah sent messengers to Jeremiah asking him to pray to God for the people of Jerusalem.  After the Babylonian army withdrew its siege to face the army of Egypt, Jeremiah replied that they would return and capture Jerusalem, burning it to the ground.  Later, after allowing one faction of his officials to imprison Jeremiah in a cistern where he would have died from lack of water if Zedekiah had not allowed another faction to rescue Jeremiah from it, Zedekiah requested a meeting with Jeremiah.  There Zedekiah asked Jeremiah what God wanted him to do.  Jeremiah told him that if he surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, the city would not be burned and his family would live, but if he did not, the Babylonians would burn Jerusalem and Zedekiah would still end up at the mercy of Nebuchadnezzar.  Zedekiah was afraid to obey God’s commands.

Jehoiakim was contemptuous of Jeremiah and the word of God.  Zedekiah had respect for Jeremiah and his prophecies, but was too afraid of political factions. too afraid of people, to follow God’s command.  Neither one had faith in God so as to obey His words.  Zedekiah is the more to be pitied because he knew God’s power, but he feared man more than he feared God.  We must be careful lest we too fear man more than we fear God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 33-35.

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When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem while Zedekiah was king, the elites of Jerusalem entered into a covenant to free their Hebrew slaves.  Shortly after this, Nebuchadnezzar withdrew his armies.  Once Nebuchadnezzar withdrew his armies the elites of Jerusalem found excuses to re-enslave the people whom they had released from slavery.  Jeremiah prophesies that just as the elites had re-enslaved those they had freed so would God bring Nebuchadnezzar back to besiege and sack Jerusalem.  In this passage, Jeremiah points out that the elites of Jerusalem had enslaved their fellow Hebrews in ways which were contrary to the law of God.  When they faced disaster, those elites recognized that they had done wrong and agreed to correct their behavior.  They agreed to free the slaves they had held in violation of God’s Law.  They amended their behavior to comply with God’s desire.  As soon as the threat of disaster was lifted they returned to their sin.  We need to examine our lives to see where we may do the same thing.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 31-32.

I have a Youtube video of me reading the Scripture passage and my comments. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts.

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Throughout most of the Book of Jeremiah the prophecies given to Jeremiah are about God’s anger against His people for abandoning His commands and turning to idols rather than worshiping God.  Even in today’s passage, Jeremiah prophesies against the people of Jerusalem for their failure to listen to God’s commands.  In that prophecy, Jeremiah specifically calls out two sins.  One of those sins was to set up abominations in the house of God.  The other was to sacrifice their children to Molech (side note: Jeremiah says that they set up high places of Baal to sacrifice their children to Molech…I thought that Baal and Molech were different gods).  We need to examine the ways in which we may set up abominations in our lives and in the Church.  And as a society, we need to examine the importance we lend to sacrificing our children, whether through abortion or other ways in which we sacrifice children on the altars of the idols we worship.

However, for all of the above, in most of today’s passage Jeremiah preaches a message of hope.  He tells the people that despite God’s anger at the people of Judah and Israel, He will gather them to Himself once more.  God is going to make a new covenant with His people.  God’s new covenant is eternal.  He will write His law on our hearts and we will not need others to teach us to know God.  All who seek God will find Him and will know Him.  He will remember our sin no longer.  Let us be careful to let nothing live in our hearts which God considers an abomination.  The Israelites erected idols in God’s temple.  Today our hearts are God’s temple, we must be careful not to erect idols there.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.