Jeremiah - Lesson 8

• Chapters 1-6 The foundation of this book is established by the LORD calling Jeremiah as a prophet to Judah in the final days of that kingdom. The LORD’s people, Israel and Judah, had rejected their God by worshipping false gods and without their repentance, the LORD is sending a nation from the North as judgment—but not for a complete destruction of His people.

  • Chapter 7 Preaching at a gate at the temple, Jeremiah prophesies about the impending destruction of the temple and the city like was done at Shiloh. The temple’s existence is not going to save Jerusalem from the judgment to be brought, because of the people's worship of foreign gods and their disregard for the needy.

Jer. 8:1 “At that time,” declares the LORD, “they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves.
Jer. 8:2 “They will spread them out to the sun, the moon and to all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have gone after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or buried; they wi  ll be as dung on the face of the ground.
Jer. 8:3 “And death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the places to which I have driven them,” declares the LORD of hosts.
Jer. 8:4  “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD,
“Do men fall and not get up again?
Does one turn away and not repent?
Jer. 8:5  “Why then has this people, Jerusalem,
Turned away in continual apostasy?
They hold fast to deceit,
They refuse to return.
Jer. 8:6  “I have listened and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
No man repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his course,
Like a horse charging into the battle.
Jer. 8:7  “Even the stork in the sky
Knows her seasons;
And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush
Observe the time of their migration;
But My people do not know
The ordinance of the LORD.

• Verse 1 The verse begins with the phrase, ‘at that time’.

  • This would be linked to the end of chapter 7 where the last words were about a time when all joy was going to be taken from the cities of Judah including Jerusalem.

  • This is a description of what will take place during the siege of Jerusalem.

• Next the LORD declares something using the pronoun ‘they’.

  • To help determine who ‘they’ are, we will continue to read and make a list of what ‘they’ do.

  • First, ‘they’ bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, princes, priests, prophets and the bones of those buried from Jerusalem.

• Verse 2 Then ‘they’ will spread out the bones before the sun, moon, and hosts of heaven.

  • ‘They’ love the sun, moon and hosts of heaven.

  • ‘They’ do not just love; they serve, they have gone after, and they worship these.

    • This seems to be a reference to some form of adherence to worship of the constellations.

    • The use of the bones of those who are dead seems to have a function associated with the worship of the constellations.

• There is movement now from those dead long enough to have been buried and exist as bones to those recently deceased as the next reference is ‘they’ will not be gathered or buried.

  • The indication here is some of ‘they’ are now dead.

  • Their bodies lay above ground to decay as body waste decays.

  • The work done by ‘they’ with the dead bones and the turning to the constellations did not spare them from the judgment.

• Verse 3 ‘They’ are described as an evil family.

  • This evil family will have a remnant.

  • The remnant will choose death not life.

  • This remnant will be found in all the places the LORD has driven them to.

    • A remnant of these people will be driven out of Jerusalem.

    • The contrasting of the worship of the constellations of the heavens is seen as the description of the LORD is the LORD of hosts. The true LORD of all the heavenly hosts.

• Verse 4 The LORD poses a question to these men so described and He begins by asking if a man can fall down and not get back up again.

  • The question is put forward to make those who have been brought low consider if they want to get back up and are willing to do what is right now.

  • ‘They’ seem much more desirous of holding to their deceived thoughts than the truth and reality in front of them.

    • Next the observation is made about a man who would now change the direction of his life, but not so as to be forgiven from the life direction embraced for so long. There is no thought of being repentant for the previous decisions.

• Verse 5 ‘They’ are now identified as the people of Jerusalem.

  • Those who should have been the LORD’s people turned away from Him in continual apostasy.

  • These people instead hold on tightly to the lie and will not return to the LORD in repentance.

• Verse 6 The LORD is speaking and says He has listened and heard what His people said.

  • Another way this could be described is the LORD is listening to what the people did not say.

    • They spoke words that were not truth.

    • They declare they don’t need to repent of anything the LORD called wickedness.

    • They say they have done nothing wrong.

  • Now that what they are doing has been called out as wrong before the LORD, they stayed focused on the same path they have been on without repentance.

    • Their movement into sin is compared to a horse charging into battle.

    • Once the horse has the blinders on and the battle cry moves the horse to charge ahead, nothing will stop it. That is what he has been trained to do.

    • That is the picture the LORD is using for these people who claimed to know Him yet did exactly the opposite of what He called them to do.

• Verse 7 The LORD points to His creation to demonstrate the wisdom displayed in the birds knowing each year when it is time to migrate.

  • This ability to see the signs changing and make the necessary changes to migrate is used in contrast to what the LORD’s people do.

  • They see the signs all around them of impending judgment, yet they will not prepare for what is about to happen to them. They refuse to believe and leave.

  • The birds of nature know what to do for survival, what the truth is, and respond accordingly.

  • The LORD’s people did not know His ordinances.

    • They did not want to understand their violations of His commands.

    • They chose to follow their own desires.

    • They chose to worship other gods that fed their own desires.

    • They chose to ignore what the LORD told them would happen if they made these decisions.

    • They chose to ignore the prophets the LORD sent them.

Jer. 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise,
And the law of the LORD is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
Has made it into a lie.
Jer. 8:9  “The wise men are put to shame,
They are dismayed and caught;
Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD,
And what kind of wisdom do they have?
Jer. 8:10  “Therefore I will give their wives to others,
Their fields to new owners;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is greedy for gain;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone practices deceit.
Jer. 8:11  “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
Jer. 8:12  “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They certainly were not ashamed,
And they did not know how to blush;
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
At the time of their punishment they shall be brought down,”
Says the LORD.

• Verse 8 The people have deluded themselves into believing they were wise and following the law.

  • The scribes were writing things about the law of the LORD that were untrue. They had in some way twisted the Word of the LORD.

    • The original copy of the Law is found as Josiah is having the temple put back into a proper state for worship. 2 Chronicles 34:13-14.

2Chr. 34:13 They were also over the burden bearers, and supervised all the workmen from job to job; and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.
2Chr. 34:14 When they were bringing out the money which had been brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the LORD given by Moses.

• Verse 13 Some of the Levites were scribes at this time.

• Verse 14 It would seem the book of the law of the LORD, as it was given to Moses, is found.

  • What had the scribes been working on if there was no written law for the people?

  • It would appear the scribes had done their own translation work.

  • It might have been something like what appears in Jewish writings now where there have been ‘wise’ Jewish men putting their own thinking into what the words mean.

  • After a long period of time what is put forward about the Word is not true.

    • Things can often vary from what the LORD actually means in His Word.

    • Twisting the LORD’s Word is not a new endeavor.

    • There are many Jewish teachers today who have to do mental gymnastics to explain what the scriptures say in order to navigate away from the interpretations brought into line with NT writings.   

• This happens in the modern church as well, when what is written or spoken about is twisted to bring about a predetermined narrative.

  • It is not a mistake that when the Words of the LORD are taken out of context, they are bent into a meaning that is almost always opposite of what the words actually mean.

  • This underscores the importance of knowing the scriptures and studying the scriptures for yourself.

• Jer. 8:9 Those men of Jeremiah’s day that were considered wise men would be the scribes.

  • They would be those who were to interpret what the Law said to the leaders and the people.

  • These wise men are actually put to shame.

  • They are lying and then being caught in their lies.

    • The conclusion is they have rejected what was written in God’s Word choosing to believe their own interpretation of His Word.

    • The rhetorical question is then, what wisdom could these men possibly have?

• Verse 10  The consequence of this will be their wives will be given to others.

  • The fields they own will also be given to others.

  • The full extent of the pervasive nature of this turning away from the LORD and His word is captured in the phrase from the ‘least even to the greatest.’

  • There was no one, not one, who truly stood up for the LORD’s truth.

    • The motivation for this is demonstrated in their greed for gain.

    • They all have joined together in this evil.

    • The prophets have sold out.

    • The priests have sold out.

  • Again, the inclusiveness is demonstrated as the LORD says everyone practices deceit.

• Verse 11  The LORD speaks of the daughter of His people, that is Jerusalem.

  • The people are broken.

  • In their brokenness would be the opportunity for repentance but instead the liars say there is “peace, peace.”

  • The reality is there is no peace.

    • The LORD is bringing judgment, and none will be spared.

    • The lying only makes the destruction worse.

• Verse 12 The LORD describes the behaviors of the leaders as an abomination.

  • The leaders were not ashamed of their behaviors; they did not even feel a slight bit of shame.

  • Because of their hypocrisy they will also fall when the city falls.

  • The leaders will not be in positions of leadership, the LORD will bring them down.

Jer. 8:13 “I will surely snatch them away,” declares the LORD;
“There will be no grapes on the vine
And no figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf will wither;
And what I have given them will pass away.”’”
Jer. 8:14  Why are we sitting still?
Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities
And let us perish there,
Because the LORD our God has doomed us
And given us poisoned water to drink,
For we have sinned against the LORD.
Jer. 8:15  We waited for peace, but no good came;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!
Jer. 8:16  From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses;
At the sound of the neighing of his stallions
The whole land quakes;
For they come and devour the land and its fullness,
The city and its inhabitants.
Jer. 8:17 “For behold, I am sending serpents against you,
Adders, for which there is no charm,
And they will bite you,” declares the LORD.
Jer. 8:18 My sorrow is beyond healing,
My heart is faint within me!
Jer. 8:19 Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land:
“Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”
“Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign idols?”
Jer. 8:20 “Harvest is past, summer is ended,
And we are not saved.”
Jer. 8:21 For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken;
I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.
Jer. 8:22  Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?

• Verse 13 The LORD begins to describe what He is going to do.

  • He will snatch them away. The scribes, prophets and priests will be taken away.

  • This is hard for us to understand as we live in a world where the church and the political leadership are separate entities.

  • In this day the spiritual leaders were the political leaders.

    • They gave directions to the kings.

    • They could influence who was put in charge of the military.

    • They were over the courts of the day.

• The LORD uses three pictures from agriculture to display what is about to happen.

  • The first picture is of grapes being removed from the vine. The LORD has referred to Israel as a grape vine before. Psa. 80:8-13

Psa. 80:8 You removed a vine from Egypt;
You drove out the nations and planted it.
Psa. 80:9  You cleared the ground before it,
And it took deep root and filled the land.
Psa. 80:10  The mountains were covered with its shadow,
And the cedars of God with its boughs.
Psa. 80:11  It was sending out its branches to the sea
And its shoots to the River.
Psa. 80:12  Why have You broken down its hedges,
So that all who pass that way pick its fruit?
Psa. 80:13  A boar from the forest eats it away
And whatever moves in the field feeds on it.

• The LORD clearly defines Israel as the vine. This is also seen in Is. 5:1-7.

Is. 5:1   Let me sing now for my well-beloved
A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.
My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
Is. 5:2  He dug it all around, removed its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
And He built a tower in the middle of it
And also hewed out a wine vat in it;
Then He expected it to produce good grapes,
But it produced only worthless ones.
Is. 5:3   “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge between Me and My vineyard.
Is. 5:4  “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?
Is. 5:5  “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed;
I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground.
Is. 5:6  “I will lay it waste;
It will not be pruned or hoed,
But briars and thorns will come up.
I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”
Is. 5:7   For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel
And the men of Judah His delightful plant.
Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;
For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.

• The vine represented the people as God brought them into the Promised Land.

  • The fruit was to be the works of the people, like justice and righteousness.

  • When there is no fruit there is no purpose for the vine to exist.

    • The leaf withers away. The leaf protects the vine and when it withers away the vine will be destroyed.

    • The same is true for the fig tree that does not bear fruit.

    • They were both created for this specific purpose just like God’s people are created for a specific purpose.

  • When the vine becomes worthless it is cut off.

  • There was nothing left for the LORD to do to make the vine produce.

    • It is time for the vine to be removed.   

• Verse 14 The prophet asks the question as to why the people were just sitting around, maybe hoping things would change.

  • Would it not be better to go to the fortified cities and prepare for the invasion?

  • The LORD had already spoken of what was going to happen. There was no changing this as it was from the LORD.

    • There is an acceptance of what is to happen in the picture of receiving poisoned water. Once a person drinks the poison there is no going back, it is too late.

    • This is deserved as the people have sinned against and rejected the LORD.

• Verse 15 It is clear the promise given by the false teachers of peace had been hoped for and waited on--but it was not to be.

  • In the place of peace there was no peace.

  • In the place of healing there was only terror.

• Verse 16 The judgment is close now as the horses of war are heard in Dan and the whole land knows what is coming.

  • Dan is north of Jerusalem and would experience the onslaught of the enemy first.

  • The stories of what this army did as it came to conquer would precede them.

• Verse 17 The temperament of this army is described as an adder that will not be persuaded to do anything less than instructed. It comes to destroy.

  • The LORD again declares this army is being sent by Him for this purpose.

• Verse 18 The LORD is not pleased by what must be done to His people.

  • The LORD has sorrow for the pain His children must endure.

  • This is a contrary picture to the gods of the surrounding people and the gods His people have chosen to worship.

    • These gods had only pain, death and destruction to offer with no empathy.

  • This expression of sorrow the LORD is expressing through Jeremiah is not accepted by many teachers and they somehow claim these words are from Jeremiah himself.

  • There is nothing in the scriptures that would give license to change who is speaking as it is the LORD through Jeremiah.

• Verse 19 The LORD prophesying the future says to listen as the cry of Jerusalem is in a distant land.

  • The temple has been removed.

  • The treasures have been removed.

  • They sense the LORD is not in Zion any longer.

  • They sense their King is no longer in Zion, or the city or the temple.

    • The LORD removed these things and the people because He was provoked.

    • The graven images and foreign idols had been brought into the temple, the city and Zion.

• Verse 20 The time is passing under the siege and Jerusalem was not rescued.

• Verse 21 The LORD mourns for Jerusalem.

  • The LORD knows what is to become of Jerusalem.

  • This reminds us of when Jesus, years later, would weep because He too knew what was going to happen in Jerusalem. Luke 19:35-44

Luke 19:35 They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it.
Luke 19:36 As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road.
Luke 19:37 As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen,
Luke 19:38 shouting:
“BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Luke 19:39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
Luke 19:40 But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”
Luke 19:41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it,
Luke 19:42 saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
Luke 19:43 “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side,
Luke 19:44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

• The entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, hailed as the King, reverses what occurred in Jerusalem that Jeremiah is prophesying about.

  • The LORD is again in Zion.

    • Her King is within her.

    • Her King weeps over Jerusalem again.

  • The leaders over Jerusalem once again lead the people astray.

  • The leaders do not direct them to peace.

  • They will lead the people again to a day where the enemies will throw up a barricade around Jerusalem.

  • The enemies will destroy the city and the people and the temple; here the reference to not leaving one stone upon another is specific to the destruction of the temple. See Mark 13:1-2.

Mark 13:1 As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples  said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”
Mark 13:2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

• The similarities in the destruction are seen but so are the similarities for the reason of the destruction.

  • They did not honor the LORD as their God.

  • They did not believe the Word of the LORD.

Jer. 8:22 The question the LORD poses through Jeremiah asks if there was a balm in Gilead or a physician to heal the people who through their idol worship have caused destruction to come on the temple and Jerusalem.

• The area of Gilead had a reputation for plants used for medicinal purposes.

  • There was no ointment and no person that was going to restore the situation except by discipline.

  • There were no works to perform or a person to come to the rescue of Jerusalem.

    • The message for our hearts is to not be stubborn like the people of God were in Jeremiah’s day or in Jesus’ day.

  • While it is still today, we can bring our hearts before the LORD in submission to His Will.

  • While it is today, we can share the gospel message with unbelievers, and they can be saved.

• Knowing the promises of God are always fulfilled and He provides all answers in His Word we can be encouraged by the words of Peter in 2Pet. 3:13-18.

2Pet. 3:13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
2Pet. 3:14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,
2Pet. 3:15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,
2Pet. 3:16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
2Pet. 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,
2Pet. 3:18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

• First, we are to grow in the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

  • Jesus instructs His disciples how to grow in grace in John 15:1-5

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
John 15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

• Second, believers are instructed to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2Tim. 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
2Tim. 3:17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.