Jeremiah - Lesson 21

• 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 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 L  ORD 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.

  • Chapters 19 The LORD will destroy Judah and Jerusalem like useless pottery because of the shedding of innocent blood and child sacrifices. Valley of Ben-hinnom to become Valley of Slaughter.

  • Chapter 20 Jeremiah is persecuted for the message he brings to the people’s leaders; he brings his grief before the LORD.

Jer. 21:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying,
Jer. 21:2 “Please inquire of the LORD on our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is warring against us; perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all His wonderful acts, so that the enemy will withdraw from us.”

• Verse 1 There is a clarification again that the LORD sends a word to Jeremiah.

  • The event that surrounds the giving of this word is that King Zedekiah sent two men to Jeremiah.

  • The context of the chapter begins by stating that an action is being taken by King Zedekiah.

    • This king was the last king over the kingdom of Judah before the nation was taken into exile.

• Short review of the last kings as a reminder:

  • Josiah was a good king; he was ultimately killed by Egypt; ruled 640-609 BC, thirty-one years.

    • 2 Kings 23:29-30 and 2 Chronicles 35:20-24.

    • Josiah’s son Jehoahaz was made king by the people for three months then taken prisoner to Egypt and ultimately dies there, 609 BC. 2Kings 23:31-33.

    • Next Josiah’s son Eliakim is made king by Egypt; renames him Jehoiakim; he reigns eleven years, 609-598 BC.  2Kings 23:34-36.

    • When Eliakim (renamed Jehoiakim) dies his son Jehoiachin becomes king for three months and he is taken to Babylon in 598 or 597 BC. He is Josiah’s grandson and becomes the father of Shealtiel, continuing the line of King David all the way to the birth of Jesus. 2Kings 24:6-12.

    • The king of Babylon sets a new king over Judah in 2Kings 24:17-18.

2Kings 24:17 Then the king of Babylon made his uncle Mattaniah king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
2Kings 24:18  Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem

• This Mattaniah renamed Zedekiah is a son of Josiah and is the last king of Judah. He rules for eleven years, 597–586 BC. In the ninth year of his reign Jerusalem is under siege.

  • Jer. 21:1 The two men King Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah are Pashhur the son of Malchijah and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah.

  • This is not Pashhur from chapter twenty, as that Pashhur was a priest, the son of Immer.

    • Verse 2 King Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to inquire of the LORD for the leaders of Judah.

    • The king says, “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is warring against us.”

  • This is the first time the name Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned in the book of Jeremiah.

    • The king is asking Jeremiah to talk with the LORD and ask if the LORD would deal with Judah as the LORD who does His wonderful acts.

    • The king is looking for the LORD of miracles to do a miracle for him.

    • The king would like the Babylonian army to withdraw from them.

  • It would appear this withdrawal would be from the siege King Nebuchadnezzar had established against Judah. This time frame would then be somewhere in the last two years of King Zedekiah’s reign, 588-586 BC.

• It is important to understand why King Nebuchadnezzar had come to Jerusalem to surround the city, putting them under a siege.

  • King Nebuchadnezzar was the one who had installed Zedekiah as king of Judah nine years earlier.

  • The arrangement for Zedekiah to remain the installed king was for him to serve King Nebuchadnezzar by sending collected tributes to him. This was a form of taxation over the kingdom.

  • There is no point in history that remains static; there is always a moving picture of power struggles and powerful people coming and going throughout all history and that is true during this particular time in history.

    • The Assyrian kingdom had fallen from power and had been replaced as a world power by the Babylonians.

    • The Egyptians were regaining strength at this time and the Pharaoh of the day had convinced Zedekiah to stand up against King Nebuchadnezzar by not sending him the tribute.

    • The Egyptians had promised they were going to support Zedekiah against King Nebuchadnezzar.

  • Egypt was having their own defensive issues with the king of Babylon so when Zedekiah requested help from Egypt there was no help from them.

  • With no support from Egypt Zedekiah is defenseless against Babylon and Jerusalem is under siege.

    • We don’t live in walled cities, so this language is harder for us to understand in our modern world.

    • The goal of surrounding a walled city was ultimately for the city to surrender themselves to the army outside their walls.

  • By surrounding the city and not allowing anything or anyone in or out, the supplies of the city are cut off.

    • This creates a shortage of food and water and leads to starvation and epidemic disease of the population.

    • The goal of the surrounding army is for the citizens to surrender themselves and open the city gates.

• When it becomes apparent the population of the city is not going to surrender and they would rather die, then a surrounding army can start to make other arrangements while also keeping the city cut off from supplies.

  • It is not cheap to keep an entire army outside the walls of a city, as they need supplies brought in and they may be needed elsewhere to serve the king.

  • They would often build a siege ramp that would ultimately allow the soldiers outside the city to climb the ramp and enter the city without using the gates.

  • When the people are given the opportunity to surrender and they don’t, and the warriors have to enter by a siege ramp, there is little incentive not to kill all those in the city when they arrive.

    • This is the situation Zedekiah finds the city of Jerusalem in now as he reaches out to Jeremiah.

    • There was a similar situation King Hezekiah found himself in about one hundred years earlier, found in 2Kings 18-20.

    • The simple highlights for the connection today are found in 2Kings 19:1-4, 20-21,32-36.

2Kings 19:1 And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD.
2Kings 19:2 Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
2Kings 19:3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and rejection; for children have come to birth and there is no strength to deliver.
2Kings 19:4 ‘Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

2Kings 19:20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.’
2Kings 19:21“This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:

2Kings 19:32 ‘Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, “He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it.
2Kings 19:33 “By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,”’ declares the LORD.
2Kings 19:34 ‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”
2Kings 19:35 Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead.
2Kings 19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home, and lived at Nineveh.

• Hezekiah was facing the Assyrian army coming to set up a siege around Jerusalem.

  • Hezekiah sent word to the prophet Isaiah.

  • In these verses we see that Hezekiah turned to the LORD in prayer himself.

  • The LORD miraculously showed up to save the king, the temple and the city.

    • This is what Zedekiah is wanting from the LORD when he says, ‘as the LORD who does His wonderful acts’.

  • Notice Hezekiah prayed to the LORD himself where Zedekiah does not

    • Hezekiah comes in humiliation to the LORD; Zedekiah just wants the LORD’s wondrous acts.

    • Zedekiah is all about what the LORD can do for him, not what he could or should be doing for the LORD.

• Jeremiah has been speaking to these people and the leaders of Judah for forty plus years, beginning during the reign of Josiah and continuing through all the last kings of Judah.

  • He has warned every king and all the leaders during this entire time of the impending judgment, and they have not listened; instead, they have ridiculed him and tried to silence him.

  • The LORD had told Jeremiah there would be a day when these people who were his enemies would come looking to him during a time of distress. Jer. 15:11

• Jer. 15:11 The LORD said, “Surely I will set you free for purposes of good;

  • Surely I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you

  • In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

Jer. 21:3 Then Jeremiah said to them, “You shall say to Zedekiah as follows:
Jer. 21:4 ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands, with which you are warring against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the center of this city.
Jer. 21:5 “I Myself will war against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, even in anger and wrath and great indignation.
Jer. 21:6 “I will also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence.
Jer. 21:7 “Then afterwards,” declares the LORD, “I will give over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who survive in this city from the pestilence, the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their foes and into the hand of those who seek their lives; and he will strike them down with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion.”’

• Verse 3 Jeremiah gives his response to the messengers to take back to Zedekiah.

  • Verse 4 The message comes from the LORD God of Israel.

  • He is going to take all the weapons the people of Jerusalem are using to defend themselves from their enemies and gather them into the center of the city.

    • This is the clarification that the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans are besieging them outside the wall right now.

    • The tactic of war for a city under siege would be to have the weapons on the walls of the city to take down their enemies should they try to enter over the walls.

  • The LORD declares He is going to gather all the weapons into the center of the city, meaning He is going to leave Jerusalem defenseless against this enemy.

• Verse 5 The LORD declares He is the one who is going to be warring against this people.

  • Verse 6 He is going to strike down the people and the animals of the city to die in a great pestilence.

  • Verse 7 Next the LORD says He is going to give Zedekiah, his servants and any survivors of the pestilence, sword and famine into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

    • These survivors will be killed by the sword without pity or compassion.

Jer. 21:8 “You shall also say to this people, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.
Jer. 21:9 “He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as booty.
Jer. 21:10 “For I have set My face against this city for harm and not for good,” declares the LORD. “It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.”’

• Verse 8 The LORD sends a second message addressed to all the people that He sets before them the way of life and the way of death.

  • This phrasing alludes to Deut. 30:15-20

Deut. 30:15 “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity;
Deut. 30:16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.
Deut. 30:17 “But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,
Deut. 30:18 I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.
Deut. 30:19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
Deut. 30:20 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

• These verses indicate the LORD has given a decision to the people that can lead to life or death.

  • The life or death is for the people of the LORD.

  • The suggestion that it is time for the people to make a choice is what is drawn from this Deuteronomy connection.

• Verse 9 This verse clarifies the choice is now for the people to stay in the city and die, or surrender to the Chaldeans and live.

  • There is no other decision to be made, since the first decision of following the LORD or turning away and not obeying the LORD had already been made by the people.

  • Verse 10 The LORD has set His face against the city for harm not for good.

    • He has determined the city will be given over to the king of Babylon to burn it with fire.

Jer. 21:11 “Then say to the household of the king of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the LORD,
Jer. 21:12  O house of David, thus says the LORD:
“Administer justice every morning;
And deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor,
That My wrath may not go forth like fire
And burn with none to extinguish it,
Because of the evil of their deeds.
Jer. 21:13 “Behold, I am against you, O valley dweller,
O rocky plain,” declares the LORD,
“You men who say, ‘Who will come down against us?
Or who will enter into our habitations?’
Jer. 21:14 “But I will punish you according to the results of your deeds,” declares the LORD,
“And I will kindle a fire in its forest
That it may devour all its environs.”’”

• Verse 11 The LORD now addresses the household of the king of Judah.

  • Verse 12 Now the LORD begins this address calling out the house of David.

    • This would be a call to all the kings of Israel and Judah as they are all from the house of David.

    • They were to administer justice every morning.

  • The business of the court was often held in the cool of the morning.

  • They were to defend those who were weaker and had been oppressed by others.

    • This was the primary responsibility the kings had for their people.

    • The ruthlessness demonstrated towards the oppressed started at the top with the kings neglecting their duty in the realm of justice and demonstrating righteousness.

  • These things were to be done to keep the LORD’s wrath from going forth like fire.

  • The LORD’s fire is judgment to be poured out.

    • This is described as a fire that would continue to burn with no one to put this fire out.

    • This judgment is because of the evil of their deeds.

• Verse 13 The LORD says He is against the valley dweller and calls out the rocky plain.

  • This is obviously Jerusalem, the city He is talking about.

  • With that understanding in context, it can be demonstrated that the rocky plain Jerusalem sits on is referenced here and the city is also surrounded by hills, so it resides in the valley of those hills.

    • These are now described as those who arrogantly ask who will be able to come against them or come into their homes.

    • These men trusted in the location to protect them.

    • These men felt safe and did not acknowledge their evil deeds.

• Verse 14 The LORD declares He is the one who will punish according to the results of their deeds.

  • These deeds are like a forest that is to be set on fire.

  • The fire will devour all that surrounds the evil deeds. Environs means to encircle.

    • There are some who see the fire consuming the royal palace as it was made of wood and the previous verse did speak about how safe the leaders felt in their habitations or homes.

• Jeremiah had been warning of this all-consuming judgment for most of his life.

  • Now the time for fulfillment of the words spoken through him by the LORD is at hand.

  • The sin of the leaders as well as the people blinded them to the words of the LORD through Jeremiah.

  • The sin of false prophets and worshipping of false gods had continued off and on throughout the history of Israel.

    • The nation of Israel had already been removed from their land and it was a direct result of their continued worship of false gods.

    • The sin of others appears to be worse than our sin because we often live very deceived.

Heb. 3:12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
Heb. 3:13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
James 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
James 1:15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
James 1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

• When we neglect dealing with sin, our hearts can also become hardened like the rulers of the LORD’s people.

  • “Those consequences won’t happen to me.”

    • The white lies are never caught, and the liar begins lying on bigger and bigger issues.

  • The LORD did not change His word to the rulers or the people regarding what was coming on them and Jerusalem. It was to happen on the LORD’s timetable.

  • King Zedekiah comes making a request to the LORD for some miraculous event, though he had not humbled his heart before the LORD.

    • The king should have come with a repentant heart desiring to know what he could do before the LORD.

    • There are many people of the Bible whose decisions and lives are recorded to demonstrate doing the wrong thing, to be used as examples for us of what not to do.

  • Our hearts need to be encouraged by His word to sacrifice all we are and have for His desires, not our own. Romans 12:1-2

Rom. 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Rom. 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

• Bring everything in your life before the LORD with a heart willing to hear Him and be transformed by Him.