Jeremiah - Lesson 19 and 20

• Chapters 1-6 The LORD calls Jeremiah as a prophet to Judah in the final years of the kingdom. The LORD’s people, Israel and Judah, had rejected their God by worshipping false gods without repentance. The LORD is sending a nation from the North as judgment, yet not for the complete destruction of His people.

  • Chapter 7-11 Jeremiah calls out the impending destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. The people have been led into the worship of false gods, signs in the heavens and idols by their spiritual leaders, forsaking the LORD and violating His covenant. The necessity for discipline is not pleasing to the LORD. Many want to silence the LORD’s prophet.

  • Chapter 12-17 The wicked seem to prosper.

    • The LORD is not deceived and rejects empty worship. The false prophets were not removed by the people. A drought is sent as a warning, but the hard hearts of the people continue in the worship of false gods, with no regard for the commands of the LORD.

    • Jeremiah brings warning of impeding destruction to kings, leaders and all the people, remembering the evil of king Manasseh.

  • Jeremiah laments his calling as a prophet but repents and continues to speak the words of the LORD, though alone and persecuted. Forbidden by the LORD to mourn, or pray for the nation, yet the LORD will protect him and confirm his words.

    • There will be restoration for the nation in the future.

• Chapter 18 The LORD is the sovereign ‘potter’ over all creation. Jeremiah is to continue to prophesy to the men of Judah concerning their impending judgment, though they will try to silence him.

Jer. 19:1 Thus says the LORD, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests.
Jer. 19:2 “Then go out to the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you,
Jer. 19:3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold I am about to bring a calamity upon this place, at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle.
Jer. 19:4 “Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent
Jer. 19:5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind;

• Verse 1 The LORD speaks to Jeremiah and instructs him to buy a potter’s earthenware jar or pottery.

  • Jeremiah is to take a group with him made up of some of the leaders and priests of the people.

  • Jeremiah is still considered a prophet to the people and there would still be a desire to hear what the LORD had spoken to him.

• Verse 2 Jeremiah is to take the group to the valley of Ben-hinnom by the potsherd gate and wait for a message from the LORD to come to him.

  • This gate is located south then west of the city.

    • The name potsherd probably came from the place where the broken pottery and other garbage was taken, like a city dump.

• Verse 3 Jeremiah is to announce to the kings and citizens of Jerusalem a particular message.

  • To begin with, the LORD describes Himself as the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel.

  • He was about to bring disaster on this place; it will cause anyone who hears about it to have their ears ring.

    • Some translations will use LORD of Heaven’s Hosts.

    • The Hebrew ‘Sabaoth’ can be translated as Lord of hosts.

    • At times ‘Sabaoth’ is translated as Almighty.

  • Sabaoth comes from the Hebrew word for ‘armies’ or ‘hosts’.

  • This includes human armies as well as the armies of angels or celestial beings.

Is. 6:1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
Is. 6:2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Is. 6:3  And one called out to another and said,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.”

Psa. 103:19  The LORD has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.
Psa. 103:20  Bless the LORD, you His angels,
Mighty in strength, who perform His word,
Obeying the voice of His word!
Psa. 103:21  Bless the LORD, all you His hosts,
You who serve Him, doing His will.
Psa. 103:22  Bless the LORD, all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
Bless the LORD, O my soul!

• Here is one verse from two different translations:

Mal. 1:14 NET 2nd Ed. “There will be harsh condemnation for the hypocrite who has a valuable male animal in his flock but vows and sacrifices something inferior to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

Mal. 1:14 NASB 1995 “But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King,” says the LORD of hosts, “and My name is feared among the nations.”

• Jer 19:4 The LORD says this will happen because they have defiled this place.

  • They have offered sacrifices to other gods.

  • These are gods that were not known by the ancestors of any of this people, nor the kings of Judah.

    • These are not gods passed down through family tradition to the children of Israel.

    • These gods were introduced after the people of Israel had come into the land.

    • This place is filled with the blood of innocent children.

• Verse 5 They built places of worship to the god Baal and their sons were sacrificed to this god by burning them.

  • The LORD has to clarify that He would never command this, the implication being that somehow it was being taught to this people that the LORD accepted such sacrifice.

Jer. 19:6 therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter.
Jer. 19:7 “I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.
Jer. 19:8 “I will also make this city a desolation and an object of hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its disasters.
Jer. 19:9 “I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”’

• Verse 6 The LORD says this place will be called the Valley of Slaughter.

  • This place is not yet called the Valley of Slaughter, even though the people did sacrifice their children to the false gods here.

    • This was also given in Jer. 7:31-32

Jer. 7:31 “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.
Jer. 7:32 “Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place.

• The OT verses from Chapter 7 for reference to the LORD forbidding this practice: Lev. 18:21, 20:1-5.

  • Jer 19:7 The LORD says in this very place He will thwart the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem with the result being they will be turned over to their enemies for a great slaughter and their bodies will be food for the birds and wild beasts to eat.

  • Verse 8 Jerusalem will be an object of horror.

  • Verse 9 The LORD describes a siege that will come on the city that will be so devastating they will eat their own children and cannibalize each other.

    • This people, who would sacrifice their children to a false god, will sacrifice their children again.

    • The LORD prophesied about this in Lev. 26:27-29, Deut. 28:53-57.

Lev. 26:27 ‘Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me,
Lev. 26:28 then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins.
Lev. 26:29 ‘Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.

Deut. 28:53 “Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you.
Deut. 28:54 “The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain,
Deut. 28:55 so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns.
Deut. 28:56 “The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter,
Deut. 28:57 and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns.

Jer. 19:10 “Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you
Jer. 19:11 and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial.
Jer. 19:12 “This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the LORD, “so as to make this city like Topheth.
Jer. 19:13 “The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the houses on whose rooftops they burned sacrifices to all the heavenly host and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”
Jer. 19:14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD’S house and said to all the people:
Jer. 19:15 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words.’”

• Verse 10 At this point the LORD tells Jeremiah to break the jar he had purchased and brought with him in front of the audience he has called together.

  • Verse 11 The LORD again identifies Himself as the LORD of Hosts.

  • The LORD intends to smash Judah and Jerusalem like the pottery Jeremiah smashed symbolically so that it is beyond repair.

    • There will be so many dead in the valley they are standing in it will run out of room to bury them.

    • The broken jar stands in contrast to the clay object that can be remade; the jar can’t be repaired.

    • It is now time only for judgment on Judah.

  • Verse 12 The LORD continues a comparison saying He is going to deal with Jerusalem and its citizens, making them like Topheth.

    • This refers to what king Josiah had done in this valley recorded in 2 Kings 23:10

2Kings 23:10 He also defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for Molech.

• Topheth must have been the place, or the structure, used for the burning of the children for sacrifice.

  • Josiah defiled it. He made it so it could not be used for its intended purpose again.

• Verse 13 The houses would suffer the same fate as Topheth because on the roofs of the houses sacrifices to the stars and drink offerings were poured out to other gods.

  • Verse 14 Jeremiah now takes his message directly to the people as he speaks from the courtyard of the temple.

  • Verse 15 The LORD is again referred to as the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel.

    • The time is approaching for the warning of destruction to end and the actual destruction to begin, because the warnings have ceased to be heard by the people.

    • This message is met with a response in Chapter twenty.

Jer. 20:1 When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,
Jer. 20:2 Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the LORD.
Jer. 20:3 On the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur is not the name the LORD has called you, but rather Magor-missabib.
Jer. 20:4 “For thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and while your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will give over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away as exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.
Jer. 20:5 ‘I will also give over all the wealth of this city, all its produce and all its costly things; even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give over to the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away and bring them to Babylon.
Jer. 20:6 ‘And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; and you will enter Babylon, and there you will die and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have falsely prophesied.’”

• Verse 1 A man named Pashhur, a son of Immer, is a priest and chief of security in the LORD’s temple.

  • He heard the things Jeremiah prophesied.

• Verse 2 Pashhur decided what Jeremiah did and prophesied was against the peace of the temple, so he had him beaten; some translations describe he was flogged.

  • After the flogging Jeremiah was held in stocks at the upper Gate of Benjamin in the LORD’s temple.

  • This is the first recording of a public action taken against Jeremiah recorded so far in the book.

• Verse 3 Begins with, “but the next day Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks.”

  • The indication is that the original intention was to keep Jeremiah there longer, but he decided to release him the next day.

  • After Jeremiah is released, he tells the man that the LORD’s name for him is not ‘Pashhur’ but Magor-missabib, meaning ‘Terror is Everywhere’.

• Verse 4 The reason this will be an appropriate name is because the LORD is going to make this man and all his friends terrified about what is going to happen to them.

  • Jeremiah says this man will see all of his friends die by the sword.

  • All the people of Judah will be carried off into exile by the king of Babylon.

    • This is the first time the identity of the nation taking the people into exile has been given.

• Verse 5 All the wealth of Judah will be taken to Babylon.

  • Verse 6 Jeremiah prophesies Pashhur will be the one taken into exile and die in Babylon, along with all those to whom he had falsely prophesied that all things would be alright for them.

    • This man was a priest but is known to prophesy and yet what he said did not match what Jeremiah was saying coming from the LORD.

    • This man would have also allowed the other false prophets to speak freely in the temple.

    • These may have been the reasons he reacted so strongly to Jeremiah’s words.

Jer. 20:7 O LORD, You have deceived me and I was deceived;
You have overcome me and prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
Everyone mocks me.
Jer. 20:8  For each time I speak, I cry aloud;
I proclaim violence and destruction,
Because for me the word of the LORD has resulted
In reproach and derision all day long.
Jer. 20:9  But if I say, “I will not remember Him
Or speak anymore in His name,”
Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am weary of holding it in,
And I cannot endure it.
Jer. 20:10  For I have heard the whispering of many,
“Terror on every side!
Denounce him; yes, let us denounce him!”
All my trusted friends,
Watching for my fall, say:
“Perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him
And take our revenge on him.”
Jer. 20:11 But the LORD is with me like a dread champion;
Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed,
With an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.

• Verse 7 Jeremiah now speaks to the LORD and says that he was deceived.

  • The LORD does not deceive; there is a more accurate translation from the NET Bible

Jer. 20:7 NET LORD, you coerced me into being a prophet,
and I allowed you to do it.
You overcame my resistance and prevailed over me.
Now I have become a constant laughingstock.
Everyone ridicules me.

• Jeremiah is saying he had resisted the calling of being a prophet but was coerced into being a prophet and then relented to the calling.

  • Jeremiah has become a laughingstock in the sight of the people.

• Verse 8 Jeremiah recounts that the only thing he must cry out is that violence and destruction are coming.

  • This has been the message from the LORD, but it has made the messenger the object of reproach and derision.

  • Verse 9 Jeremiah reveals there have been times he resolved to stay silent and not be the messenger of the horrid news.

    • When these times have happened, instead of peace he has the message burn inside of him like a fire and he can’t hold in the message any longer.

    • He finds silence to be worse in the end.

• Verse 10 Jeremiah reveals how he lives in a constant state of uneasiness as there is continual talk of plots against him.

  • They wish to discredit him before the people.

  • They are talking about setting him up for a fall as well as watching his every waking moment to catch him doing something wrong.

  • This may have been why the leaders agreed to go with Jeremiah to purchase the jar and then to the valley for his demonstration and words from the LORD.

  • These men have reason to want revenge on Jeremiah.

    • The only men who would desire revenge would be those who were guilty of the false prophesying Jeremiah had been direct about.

    • The content of the message being so negative to the people would be another reason to know Jeremiah was not saying words to impress anyone.

    • No one in their right mind would make up messages like the ones coming from Jeremiah.

    • It is probably true some of the false prophets were convinced their prophecies were true, and thought they were hearing from the LORD.

• Verse 11 Jeremiah finishes with the fact that the LORD is with him.

  • He describes the LORD as a ‘dread champion’; other translations use ‘awe-inspiring warrior’. What a picture that should bring to our own minds when we face the difficulties of life.

  • Jeremiah knows beyond any doubt those who had persecuted him will be judged eventually.   

Jer. 20:12  Yet, O LORD of hosts, You who test the righteous,
Who see the mind and the heart;
Let me see Your vengeance on them;
For to You I have set forth my cause.
Jer. 20:13  Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD!
For He has delivered the soul of the needy one
From the hand of evildoers.
Jer. 20:14 Cursed be the day when I was born;
Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!
Jer. 20:15  Cursed be the man who brought the news
To my father, saying,
“A baby boy has been born to you!”
And made him very happy.
Jer. 20:16  But let that man be like the cities
Which the LORD overthrew without relenting,
And let him hear an outcry in the morning
And a shout of alarm at noon;
Jer. 20:17  Because he did not kill me before birth,
So that my mother would have been my grave,
And her womb ever pregnant.
Jer. 20:18  Why did I ever come forth from the womb
To look on trouble and sorrow,
So that my days have been spent in shame?

• Verse 12 Jeremiah calls out to the LORD of hosts.

  • He says, “You test the righteous.”

  • The LORD knows what is in the mind and the heart of each person.

    • Jeremiah has been suffering through testing and is righteous before the LORD; it is his desire for those who are not righteous to see the LORD’s vengeance.

    • Jeremiah knows the men who have persecuted him will be dealt with adequately by the LORD because Jeremiah trusts the LORD with his cause. It is also the cause of the LORD.

• Verse 13 Jeremiah is filled with worship to be expressed to the LORD.

  • The LORD rescues the needy from the clutches of evildoers.

• Verse 14 Even though Jeremiah knows the LORD rescues the oppressed he now laments the day of his birth.

  • He does not want his birthday to be remembered as a blessing.

    • This is how grief can work: one moment you can find praise on your lips, and the next a darkness can overcome you.

• Verse 15 Jeremiah doesn’t want the man who brought the news of his birth to be remembered joyfully.

  • Verse 16 Jeremiah desires for that man to be like the cities the LORD destroyed, described as “without mercy”. These cities are named in Deut. 29:23.

Deut. 29:23 ‘All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’

• The description of a cry of distress going out in the morning followed by a battle cry at noon.

  • The response to the cry of distress is not help or rescue, but attack.

• Verse 17 Jeremiah wishes this for the man who brought news of a son to his father instead of killing him before he left his mother’s womb.

  • Verse 18 Jeremiah is expressing his deep shame and continual pain of life and saying he would have preferred to not have been born, similar to the words of Job 3:10-11.

Job 3:10 Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb,
Or hide trouble from my eyes.
Job 3:11 “Why did I not die at birth,
Come forth from the womb and expire?

• Read Job 3 to hear the same pain being expressed by Job.

  • Jeremiah was a real man dealing with a lifetime of rejection and solitude.

  • He knew the LORD was there for him, but he still suffered intense grief.

  • Jeremiah felt safe to share his grief with his LORD.

    • The LORD had already revealed to Jeremiah this was his calling from the womb. Jer. 1:4-5.

Jer. 1:4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,
Jer. 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

• Jeremiah’s suffering was very real.

  • The LORD understood the struggle Jeremiah would have, yet He still called him to submit to his calling.

  • The LORD is there for all who are suffering; but for this moment we are talking about suffering that is brought on one because they are following the LORD’s calling or the LORD’s will.

    • This reality of suffering was true for Jesus, Acts 3:18.

Acts 3:18 “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

• Jesus spoke the truth to His disciples of how they would be hated. John 15:18-19

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

• The call to follow after the LORD grows increasingly difficult as the world grows increasingly spiritually dark.

  • The call is still for believers to do the will of God.

  • There is blessing for believers who do the will of God. 1Pet. 3:14-16

1Pet. 3:14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED,
1Pet. 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
1Pet. 3:16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

• There will be justice in the end where the unjust will be afflicted and the just will receive relief.

2Th. 1:5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.
2Th. 1:6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
2Th. 1:7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,

• The suffering we endure may be the will of God. 1Pet. 4:12-19.

1Pet. 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;
1Pet. 4:13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.
1Pet. 4:14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
1Pet. 4:15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler;
1Pet. 4:16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.
1Pet. 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
1Pet. 4:18 AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?
1Pet. 4:19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.

• Speaking righteous words in an unrighteous world can be exhausting and discouraging.

  • If Jeremiah had the word of God burning in him with a dire message for the people in his day, then we should have that same burning desire to bring the gospel of good news and the truth of His word to people in our day.

  • Jeremiah should be a beacon on a hill for us to see and emulate when it comes to speaking truth to a world that has no desire to hear the truth.