Jeremiah - Lesson 22

• 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 impending 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.

  • Chapter 19 The LORD will destroy Judah and Jerusalem like useless pottery because of the shedding of innocent blood and child sacrifice. The Valley of Ben-hinnom to be known as the 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.

  • Chapter 21 King Zedekiah seeks a miracle from the LORD who performs wondrous acts. The LORD responds: He is bringing judgment, and the choice is life by surrender or death by resistance.

    • The next chapter covers the kings of Judah between Josiah and Zedekiah.

Jer. 22:1 Thus says the LORD, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word
Jer. 22:2 and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates.
Jer. 22:3 ‘Thus says the LORD, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
Jer. 22:4 “For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people.
Jer. 22:5 “But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the LORD, “that this house will become a desolation.”’”

• Verse 1 Jeremiah is instructed to go to the house of the king of Judah.

  • Verse 2 Jeremiah is to address the king on the throne of David, his servants and those who come into the city.

    • The specific king on the throne of David is not identified.

  • Verse 3 The LORD instructs them all to do justice and righteousness. This is defined by giving justice to those who are oppressed.

    • No violence or mistreatment should happen to a foreigner, orphan or widow.

    • Those who are innocent should not be killed.

  • Verse 4 If these men will treat the weak with justice, then foreign kings will enter through the gates into the house and sit on the thrones together, demonstrating respect for one another.

  • Verse 5 The LORD swears on Himself; there is no higher authority to swear by than on the LORD Himself.

    • If these kings and leaders do not obey the LORD in bringing justice and righteousness, then the royal house will become desolate.

Jer. 22:6 For thus says the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“You are like Gilead to Me,
Like the summit of Lebanon;
Yet most assuredly I will make you like a wilderness,
Like cities which are not inhabited.
Jer. 22:7 “For I will set apart destroyers against you,
Each with his weapons;
And they will cut down your choicest cedars
And throw them on the fire.
Jer. 22:8 “Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this great city?’
Jer. 22:9 “Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’”
Jer. 22:10 Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him,
But weep continually for the one who goes away;
For he will never return
Or see his native land.

• Verse 6 The LORD describes the royal house of Judah to be like Gilead and the top of the summit of Lebanon to Him; and yet He will be the one to make them like the wilderness and the empty cities of the land.

  • Verse 7 The LORD will select those He will send to destroy Judah with weapons and these men will cut down the people from the land and destroy them.

  • Verse 8 After the destruction of Jerusalem there will be people who will pass by and see the destroyed city and wonder why the LORD had done this to the city.

    • The people will talk to each other about why the destruction happened to it from the LORD of the people of Jerusalem.

  • Verse 9 There will be some of those people speaking to each other who will have the answer and say the destruction happened because the people disregarded the covenant of the LORD their God.

    • They bowed down to other gods and served them.

  • Verse 10 Do not weep or mourn for the dead but for those who are taken into captivity to die in another land.

    • The mourning for those who have died ceases, but for those who are carried away into captivity their pain continues for their entire lives. These are the kings the people should mourn.

    • One son of Josiah is taken into captivity to Egypt not to return and dies there; and a grandson is taken into captivity to Babylon, and he does not return but dies there as well.

Jer. 22:11 For thus says the LORD in regard to Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place, “He will never return there;
Jer. 22:12 but in the place where they led him captive, there he will die and not see this land again.
Jer. 22:13 “Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness
And his upper rooms without justice,
Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay
And does not give him his wages,
Jer. 22:14  Who says, ‘I will build myself a roomy house
With spacious upper rooms,
And cut out its windows,
Paneling it with cedar and painting it bright red.’
Jer. 22:15 “Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
And do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
Jer. 22:16 “He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy;
Then it was well.
Is not that what it means to know Me?”
Declares the LORD.
Jer. 22:17 “But your eyes and your heart
Are intent only upon your own dishonest gain,
And on shedding innocent blood
And on practicing oppression and extortion.”

• V 11 The LORD prophesies regarding a son of Josiah who becomes king in place of Josiah.

  • The LORD refers to this son as Shallum; this may have been a given name prior to a royal name he received after becoming king.

  • This is the man we have previously studied and was referred to as Jehoahaz.

    • The LORD says this man will go up from this place, meaning he will leave Jerusalem.

    • The LORD says He will not return to Jerusalem.

• Verse 12 This man will be led captive to the land he goes up to and he will die there.

  • Jehoahaz was taken captive to Egypt, and he died in captivity there.

2Kings 23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2Kings 23:32 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
2Kings 23:33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
2Kings 23:34 Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away and brought him to Egypt, and he died there.

• Jer. 22:13 The LORD reveals why Shallum (Jehoahaz) was judged by the LORD in this way.

  • Jehoahaz built his home without righteousness and without justice.

  • He specifically took advantage of the workers by not paying them for the work they did.

    • This is contrary to the Law of God.

Lev. 19:13 ‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning.

• Jer. 22:14 The LORD reveals the heart of Jehoahaz saving to himself all the designs he has for this large home with spacious rooms, covered in wood paneling, painted red with windows for a view.

  • This was an extravagant home and the audacity of someone to build a mansion with the intention of not paying the people who built the home is considered evil by the LORD.

  • Verse 15 The LORD directs a question for consideration about what the heart of the king is, when it appears his focus is on how ostentatious his home is to prove he is a king.

    • Jehoahaz’s father Josiah had plenty to eat and drink, as a king, and yet he was able to do justice and righteousness.

    • The LORD provided for Josiah described as, “it went well for him.”

  • Verse 16 Josiah protected the afflicted and the needy and that was why it went well for him.

    • The LORD says this character of protection of the weak is a demonstration of what it means to truly know Him.

  • Verse 17 In comparison the LORD says Jehoahaz has eyes and a heart focused on dishonest gain, shedding innocent blood through oppression and extortion.

    • In the verses from 2 Kings, we learned Jehoahaz was only twenty-three when he was made king by the people.

    • Jehoahaz was not the eldest son and yet the people made him king.

2Kings 23:36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

• Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old and Jehoahaz was only twenty-three and reigned for three months before Jehoiakim was made king, so Jehoiakim was older by two years than Jehoahaz.

  • We also find out that Jehoahaz was king for only three months, so the character and heart of this man, revealed in Jeremiah, would have been demonstrated before he was made king.

  • It would appear the Egyptians did not trust Jehoahaz to remain an ally to them so his reputation of not being a man to honor his word might have been known by others.

    • There would also be the question of why Josiah would allow his son to carry on in such a way, as the scriptures indicate Josiah was following the LORD and doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD.

    • The truth is there is no guarantee the children of a righteous king or for that matter any person will follow in their parents’ ways.

  • Jehoahaz was also not the logical next king after Josiah so there may not have been as much concern about the outrageous things he was doing or there may have been corruption involved in this choice made by the people.

    • This is reminiscent of the history of King Henry the VIII as he was the younger prince and known to have grown up very spoiled with no training to become king as his older brother Arthur, prince of Wales, was the son who received all the training to become the king.   

Jer. 22:18 Therefore thus says the LORD in regard to Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
“They will not lament for him:
‘Alas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister!’
They will not lament for him:
‘Alas for the master!’ or, ‘Alas for his splendor!’
Jer. 22:19“He will be buried with a donkey’s burial,
Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
Jer. 22:20 “Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
And lift up your voice in Bashan;
Cry out also from Abarim,
For all your lovers have been crushed.
Jer. 22:21“I spoke to you in your prosperity;
But you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This has been your practice from your youth,
That you have not obeyed My voice.
Jer. 22:22 “The wind will sweep away all your shepherds,
And your lovers will go into captivity;
Then you will surely be ashamed and humiliated
Because of all your wickedness.
Jer. 22:23 “You who dwell in Lebanon,
Nested in the cedars,
How you will groan when pangs come upon you,
Pain like a woman in childbirth!

• Verse 18 The LORD next prophesies regarding Jehoiakim the next son of Josiah who is made king, installed by the Egyptians.

  • He served as king of Judah for eleven years and when he dies there will be no one to lament for him. There will be no man or woman to mourn. There will be no servant or anyone to speak for his majestic rule.

• Verse 19 He will die without glory and be dragged outside the gates of Jerusalem for burial.

  • The final days of Jehoiakim are murky as some scriptures just say he died while others speak of Nebuchadnezzar coming to take him away in bronze chains yet there is no reference to him making it to Babylon. It would appear he was to be taken but then something happens that led to his death instead and his body was thrown outside the walls of Jerusalem.

• Verse 20 From Lebanon in the north to Bashan in the northeast to Abriam (this is a reference to the mountains of Moab including space beyond the Jordan and east of the Dead Sea), there will be no one left to mourn as those he worshipped are crushed.

  • This verse may also be a movement to speak now to Jerusalem as well as, or instead of, the king.

• Verse 21 The LORD tried to speak to this king during the prosperity of his reign, but he did not listen to the voice of the LORD, just as was his practice throughout his life.

  • This too could be spoken of concerning Jerusalem.

• Verse 22 The LORD describes the judgment on Jehoiakim will include all his shepherds being swept away. This would refer to those who would protect him from being removed.

  • If Jerusalem is what is being spoken of here, her shepherds would be the kings and leaders who were continually swept away by the LORD in judgment.

    • Those that the king or the people loved or relied on will be taken away; this seems to include people, things and idols of worship.

    • This action of removal will bring humiliation for the king and the people.

    • The reason for this judgment is because of the king’s and the people’s wickedness.

• Verse 23 The king is described as one who is nesting or residing in the cedars of Lebanon.

  • The king’s home was built in the high places of the city of Jerusalem and was built with imported wood from Lebanon, a place known for the choicest of wood.

  • This high place will bring no comfort or protection when the pain of judgment descends, and the pain is compared to the pangs of childbirth.

    • These pangs are inevitable and begin slowly with increasing severity and decreasing moments of relief between writhing.

Jer. 22:24 “As I live,” declares the LORD, “even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off;
Jer. 22:25 and I will give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Jer. 22:26 “I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die.
Jer. 22:27 “But as for the land to which they desire to return, they will not return to it.
Jer. 22:28 “Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?
Or is he an undesirable vessel?
Why have he and his descendants been hurled out
And cast into a land that they had not known?
Jer. 22:29 “O land, land, land,
Hear the word of the LORD!
Jer. 22:30 “Thus says the LORD,
‘Write this man down childless,
A man who will not prosper in his days;
For no man of his descendants will prosper
Sitting on the throne of David
Or ruling again in Judah.’”

• Verse 24 The LORD declares, ‘As I live’, which is a way of testifying to the ultimate truth of what He is about to reveal through Jeremiah.

  • The next person the LORD speaks of is Coniah, described as the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah. This son of Jehoiakim is also known as Jehoiachin.

  • To help avoid name confusion I will refer to this man as Jehoiachin.

    • The LORD says if this Jehoiachin was a signet ring on His right hand He would pull him off.

  • We don’t use a signet ring in our culture so it would be important to know what the use of a signet ring is. In the book of Esther 3:10-12, 8:2, 8-10 we read:

Esth. 3:10 Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
Esth. 3:11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please.”
Esth. 3:12 Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province and to the princes of each people, each province according to its script, each people according to its language, being written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring.

Esth. 8:2 The king took off his signet ring which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

Esth. 8:8 “Now you write to the Jews as you see fit, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring may not be revoked.”
Esth. 8:9 So the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan), on the twenty-third day; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes of the provinces which extended from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to every province according to its script, and to every people according to their language as well as to the Jews according to their script and their language.
Esth. 8:10 He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud.

• The signet ring is given at the discretion of the king to the man he desires to give the authority to make decisions in his place.

  • Just like King Ahasuerus removed the ring from Haman and gave it to Mordecai, the LORD would remove Jehoiachin as a representative for Him. He would not be allowed to sit as a king on the throne of David.

    • Jer. 22:25 When the LORD removes Jehoiachin from his hand He will turn him over to those he dreads, that is King Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans.

  • Verse 26 The LORD will hurl both Jehoiachin and his mother into this land and they will die there.

    • They were removed in what is referred to as the second exile of Judah to Babylon.

  • Verse 27 They will indeed not return to this land, Judah.

  • Verse 28 The question would be if this Jehoiachin was beyond redeemable like a shattered jar.

    • The second question would arise concerning the reason the LORD removed him and his descendants from the land of Judah.

  • Verse 29 The reference to the land is repeated three times.

    • Those in the land should give heed to the words of the LORD.

  • Verse 30 The LORD says to write this man down childless.

    • In the immediate sense there was not a child of this man that would sit on the throne, as Nebuchadnezzar installed his uncle as the next and what for this time in history was to be the last king of Judah.

  • He will be a man who will not prosper in his days.

  • These would be his days on earth living outside the land of Judah.

    • Jehoiachin spent thirty-seven years in prison in Babylon.

2Kings 25:27 Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison;

2Kings 25:29 Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes and had his meals in the king’s presence regularly all the days of his life;

• This will be true of his descendants as they will not sit on the throne of David ruling over Judah.

  • The future kingdom will be a united kingdom of all the tribes, called Israel. There will not be a separated kingdom of Judah and Benjamin.

  • There is a more thorough explanation given by Dryer.

(Bible Knowledge Commentary by Charles H. Dryer)
This prophecy had both immediate and long-range significance. No offspring of Jehoiachin followed him to the throne. His uncle, Zedekiah, who replaced Jehoiachin, was Judah’s last king. God “pruned away” that portion of the line of David from the kingly line. This prophecy also helps explain the genealogies of Christ in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. Matthew presented the legal line of Christ through his stepfather, Joseph. However, Joseph’s line came through Shealtiel who was a son of Jehoiachin (Jeconiah, Matt. 1:12; cf. 1 Chron. 3:17). Had Christ been a physical descendant of Joseph and not virgin-born, He would have been disqualified as Israel’s King. Luke presented the physical line of Christ through Mary, who was descended from David through the line of his son Nathan (Luke 3:31). In that way Christ was not under the “curse” of Jehoiachin.

• The LORD always fulfills His words in perfection.

  • The words spoken against Jehoiachin would be achieved in history without taking away the promises of the Messiah coming through the line of David.

  • When we know every word of the scriptures will be fulfilled in perfection, we should make it our life’s desire to know the word.

  • When we understand the promises of God to His children and what is still to come to completion in this world, we should be drawn in confidence to the work He has given for us to accomplish.

    • As the LORD spoke through Jeremiah in verse ten, we are not to weep for those who have died but spend our tears and our concerns on the living.

  • We are to take the gospel to the world, those still living in darkness, not knowing Him, in whatever sphere of influence He has put in our lives and prompting He has put in our spirits.

• Second, we should be of one spirit with fellow believers, lifting up those in need around us, again with a focus on those He has put in our circle of influence. Phil. 2:1-4.

Phil. 2:1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
Phil. 2:2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Phil. 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
Phil. 2:4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

• We may not be kings here on earth, but we are saints with a high calling.

  • With this measuring chart in front of us what kind of short prose would the LORD write about us?

  • While we are to continue to read His word to receive guidance in what we are to be doing with our lives, we have the most comforting words coming from Jesus to us in Matt. 11:28-30.

Matt. 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Matt. 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
Matt. 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

• The people of Jeremiah’s day did not have the gift we have of the revelation of the Messiah, Jesus, displayed before in the scriptures.

  • We can take warning from what the people in Jeremiah’s day did not do that they had been instructed to do; and what they were doing they had been instructed not to do.

  • We cannot ignore what the LORD has given us to do as repeatedly given to us through the New Testament writings.

  • We also have the words of Jesus telling us to come to Him and He will give us rest, as His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.