JEREMIAH
Jeremiah (650-570 B.C.) is known as one of the Three Major Prophets of the Old Testament (Isaiah and Ezekiel are the other two). He prophesied for 40 years to a wicked and unrepentant nation of Judah that God was going to bring the Babylonians upon them to destroy them if they didn’t repent.
However, they mocked God and Jeremiah, continued to worship Ba’al and Molech, and listened to their own false prophets who prophesied that disaster would not befall them. As a result, as prophesied a furious God brought the Babylonians to besiege Jerusalem.
During the siege, famine in the city became so great that people either starved to death or resorted to cannibalism to which Jeremiah was an eyewitness. Famine, disease, the sword and wild animals slaughtered many of the Jews, yet they still refused to repent.
As a result, in 586 B.C. the city was razed to the ground, king Solomon’s Temple which had stood for 470 years and 6 months was destroyed and its treasures carried to Babylon along with the survivors of the siege.
Jeremiah survived the siege and has been called “The Weeping Prophet” for his heartfelt and heartbroken descriptions of the siege and its aftermath as recorded in the book of Lamentations.
JEREMIAH 1:1-3
1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,
2 to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
Jeremiah is considered to be the second of the Major Prophets (Isaiah is the first), who, through his scribe Baruch wrote the book of Jeremiah and the book of Lamentations which describes Jerusalem after the Babylonians had destroyed it in 586 B.C.
His prophetic ministry ran from 627 - 586 B.C. when Judah was taken captive and deported to Babylon for 70 years. Jeremiah survived the siege and was personally set free by conquering king Nebuchadnezzar. While his death date is unknown he seems to have died in Egypt.
The book of Jeremiah is one of dire warnings to Judah and the surrounding nations of God’s mounting fury at their sinful ways and the frightful judgment which would come at the hands of Babylon if they refused to repent.
God warned and pleaded with Judah for 40 years before He finally acted, and the book of Jeremiah can be summarized by the words given to contemporary prophet Ezekiel;
EZEKIEL 7:23-27
23 ‘Make a chain, for the land is filled with crimes of blood, and the city is full of violence.
24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles, and they will possess their houses; I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holy places shall be defiled.
25 Destruction comes; they will seek peace, but there shall be none.
26 Disaster will come upon disaster, and rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; but the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.
27 ‘The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the common people will tremble. I will do to them according to their way, and according to what they deserve I will judge them; Then they shall know that I am the Lord!’ ”
JEREMIAH 1:4-8
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then said I: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
7 But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth, for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord.
Abortion proponents hate verse 5 as it proves that their argument that unborn fetuses are “just tissue” is an outright lie. God knew us before He created the world and there are no “unplanned pregnancies” with God. And this verse proves that abortion is outright murder.
Unfortunately some older people feel that younger people are less wise and experienced than themselves, and in some cases this can be true. I once had a church elder tell me, “There’s absolutely nothing that I can learn from a younger person”. With a closed mind like that, he was right.
The apostle Paul had a young traveling companion named Timothy who faced a similar problem. Paul told him;
1 TIMOTHY 4:12
12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
JEREMIAH 1:9-19
9 Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
12 Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”
13 And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.”
14 Then the Lord said to me. “Out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.
15 For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord; “They shall come and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.
16 I will utter My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.
17 “Therefore prepare yourself and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them.
18 For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land— against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.
19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.”
God spoke truly when said He would bring “the families of the North” against Judah. Babylon was the regional “superpower” of Mesopotamia having made vassals of the kings of many city-States in the region, including the dreaded and once-mighty Assyrians.
God, in the Ezekiel prophecy mentioned above had referred to the Babylonians as “the worst of the Gentiles” (Ezekiel 7:24). The Assyrians, legendary for their cruelty and barbarity had been worse than the Babylonians, but they had been conquered and absorbed in 612 B.C. by Babylon. Therefore the Babylonians held the title of being the worst in the Middle East.
God promises that rather than listen and repent, the Jews would fight against Jeremiah. He is not to be afraid of them, lest God confound him before them.
JEREMIAH 2:1-8
1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 “Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
3 Israel was holiness to the Lord, the firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; disaster will come upon them,” says the Lord.’ ”
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel.
5 Thus says the Lord: “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, have followed idols, and have become idolaters?
6 Neither did they say, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt?’
7 I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ and those who handle the Law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
God reiterates His choosing of Israel as like a husband of a beautiful woman, one upon whom He lavished blessings and honor. But Israel rebelled and chose to worship lifeless idols of wood, metal and stone instead, giving praise and thanks to demon gods rather than the One who gave them their blessings.
The Law of Moses had become a tiresome, meaningless ritual to the priests, and the prophets prophesied from their own imaginations. As God lamented through the prophet Isaiah;
ISAIAH 28:13
13 But the word of the Lord was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,” that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.
And through the prophet Malachi;
MALACHI 1:11-13
11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts.
12 “But you profane it, in that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’
13 You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’ and you sneer at it,” says the Lord of hosts.
JEREMIAH 2:9-13
9 “Therefore I will yet bring charges against you,” says the Lord, and against your children’s children I will bring charges.
10 For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see, send to Kedar and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit.
12 Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be very desolate,” says the Lord.
13 “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.
God expresses His wonder at the fickleness of Israel, expending much effort on works that cannot profit them.
JEREMIAH 2:14-19
14 “Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he plundered?
15 The young lions roared at him, and growled; they made his land waste; his cities are burned, without inhabitant.
16 Also the people of Noph and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.
17 Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God when He led you in the way?
18 And now why take the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or why take the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
19 Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and the fear of Me is not in you,” says the Lord God of hosts.
God compares Judah to a land laid waste by lions.
Verse 16 is interesting in that it mentions two cities in Egypt saying that the Egyptians had broken the skulls of the Jews. This could refer to Pharaoh Shishak’s (Sheshonq I) attack on Judah in 926 B.C. during the reign of Solomon’s son king Rehoboam.
Pharaoh Narmer (3150 B.C.) was known as “the crusher of foreheads”, and a pictograph carving shows him holding a prisoner by the hair in his left hand while preparing to crush the prisoner’s forehead with the scepter in his right hand. This shows that the scepter originated as a weapon and could very well be what God was speaking about in verse 16.
God also warns against making alliances with Egypt or Assyria against Babylon, instead of relying on Him.
JEREMIAH 2:20-25
20 “For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; and you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ when on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down, playing the harlot.
21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?
22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord God.
23 “How can you say, ‘I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley; know what you have done: you are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways,
24 A wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs at the wind in her desire; in her time of mating, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they will find her.
25 Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.’
God compares Judah to a wild female donkey in heat who will aggressively seek male donkeys to mate with. This refers to Judah seeking alliances with surrounding pagan nations for profit and protection, much like a harlot trading her charms for money.
JEREMIAH 2:26-28
26 “As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets,
27 Saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise and save us.’
28 But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.
God brings up a good point. He asks, “If your idols are gods, why are you wailing for Me to save you? Let them do it, if they are gods.”
As He said of them through the prophet Isaiah;
ISAIAH 41:23-24
23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; yes, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and see it together.
24 Indeed you are nothing, and your work is nothing; he who chooses you is an abomination.
JEREMIAH 2:29-37
29 “Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me,” says the Lord.
30 “In vain I have chastened your children; they received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.
31 “O generation, see the word of the Lord! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are lords; we will come no more to You’?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.
33 “Why do you beautify your way to seek love? Therefore you have also taught the wicked women your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found the blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, but plainly on all these things.
35 Yet you say, ‘Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will plead My case against you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 Why do you gad about so much to change your way? Also you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria.
37 Indeed you will go forth from him with your hands on your head; for the Lord has rejected your trusted allies, and you will not prosper by them.
Judah had long rejected the Lord, worshiping their idols, shedding innocent blood, killing their prophets, and allying themselves with their pagan neighbors for protection and commerce, yet they protested to God that they were innocent.
As He would later accuse the people;
JEREMIAH 7:8-11
8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know,
10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?
11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.
JEREMIAH 3:1-5
1 “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, may he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to Me,” says the Lord.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them like an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your harlotries and your wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth?
5 Will He remain angry forever? Will He keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and done evil things, as you were able.”
God refers to Judah’s sacrificing to pagan gods on mountain and hilltops to a harlot giving her charms to men in exchange for gifts, in this case favors from their gods. He also compares them to Arabian merchants sitting by caravan routes seeking commerce from any passing by.
Brides at their weddings would wear jewelry and coins on their foreheads as ornamentation. Chances are, harlots did something similar to show their profession. God says that He has withheld rains due to Judah’s harlotries in hopes that they return to Him.
JEREMIAH 3:6-10
6 The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.
7 And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.
9 So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord.
God complains that the breakaway Northern Kingdom Israel which had split from Judah in 930 B.C. had worshiped idols of wood and stone and though He tried to correct them, they refused to listen. Therefore in 721 B.C. He sent the Assyrians against them and they destroyed the nation, deporting its citizens to Assyria and lands east.
Even though Judah had seen what had happened, they didn’t learn from the experience, but copied the sinful ways of their northern neighbor.
JEREMIAH 3:11-15
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.
14 “Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord; “for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
When the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed in 701 B.C. by the Assyrians, the survivors of the 10 breakaway tribes were deported to Assyria and lands eastward. They disappeared from history and have been labeled as “The 10 Lost Tribes’.
But were they truly ‘lost’?
In 612 B.C. Babylon destroyed the Assyrian Empire and absorbed it’s citizens into the Babylonian Empire, including the previously deported Jews of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In 586 B.C. Judah would suffer the same fate at the hands of the Babylonians with its citizens being deported to Babylon.
This meant that the Jews of Judah were met by the Jews of the Northern Kingdom who were already there!
When Babylon was conquered by the Persians in 532 B.C. king Cyrus the great of Persia allowed the Jews to return to Judah to come back as one nation, in accordance with God’s words in verses 11-15 above. (For more information please see the study concerning the 10 ‘lost’ tribes in this site.)
JEREMIAH 3:16
16 “Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the Lord, “that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.
The last mention of the Ark of the Covenant was during the time of king Josiah (2 Chronicles, chapter 35), at least 25 years before king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. There is no mention in Scripture or Babylonian records stating that the Ark was taken to Babylon as were the rest of the Temple treasures.
God had afflicted the Philistines with bubonic plague after they had captured the Ark (1 Samuel, chapters 4-5) and God would not allow the Babylonians to capture it. It is assumed that the priests hid it when the siege began and those who knew its location were killed, or taken to Babylon and its location was lost.
Although there has been much speculation as to where it might be hidden, to this day, no one knows where it is.
JEREMIAH 3:17-18
17 “At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.
18 “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.
In 538 B.C. Persian king Cyrus the Great after conquering Babylon allowed the Jews to return to Judah which they did in several waves over the next 110 years. These events were recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
JEREMIAH 3:19-25
19 “But I said: ‘How can I put you among the children and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?’ “And I said: ‘You shall call Me, “My Father,” and not turn away from Me.’
20 Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” says the Lord.
21 A voice was heard on the desolate heights, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” “Indeed we do come to You, For You are the Lord our God.
23 Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly, in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth— their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 We lie down in our shame, and our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
God promises to heal and restore Israel if they repent. They are in bitterness and sorrow because of their bondage, proving God’s words of;
JEREMIAH 2:19
19 Your own wickedness will correct you, And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing That you have forsaken the Lord your God, And the fear of Me is not in you,” Says the Lord God of hosts.
JEREMIAH 4:1-4
1 “If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord, “Return to Me; and if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not be moved.
2 And you shall swear, ‘The Lord lives,’ in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.”
3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.”
God tells both Israel and Judah to not provoke Him to wrath, to sow righteousness in their hearts and cut off the wickedness of their doings and He will again bless them. He does not punish lightly and is long-suffering with sinners but He must eventually act or He would be less than God.
JEREMIAH 4:5-10
5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: “Blow the trumpet in the land; cry, ‘Gather together,’ and say, ‘Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.’
6 Set up the standard toward Zion. Take refuge! Do not delay! For I will bring disaster from the north, and great destruction.”
7 The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of nations is on his way. He has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate. Your cities will be laid waste, without inhabitant.
8 For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail. for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.
9 “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord, “that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.”
God gives the terrible warning that the Gentile destroyer is already on his way and destruction will soon come. God was merciful in that He warned Jerusalem of the coming siege as many times cities had little if any warning of attackers before they arrived.
Sieges were usually long, drawn-out affairs, sometimes lasting for years before a city was captured. (King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon besieged the Phoenician city-State of Tyre in Lebanon for 13 years before it fell).
Attacking armies would surround a city, and build a tall dirt mound around it to bottle up the city and as a platform to mount siege engines, catapults (for throwing rocks at and over the walls), archery towers, etc. Another purpose for the siege was to cut off food and water supplies to the city, letting hunger, thirst and disease destroy the inhabitants.
God promises destruction of fortified cities in Judah to the astonishment of the corrupt priests and the false prophets who have been prophesying peace.
JEREMIAH 4:11-18
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A dry wind of the desolate heights blows in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people—not to fan or to cleanse—
12 A wind too strong for these will come for Me; now I will also speak judgment against them.”
13 “Behold, he shall come up like clouds, and his chariots like a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered!”
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
15 For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims affliction from Mount Ephraim:
16 “Make mention to the nations, yes, proclaim against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.
17 Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against Me,” says the Lord.
18 “Your ways and your doings have procured these things for you. This is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart.”
Just as a hot, dry wind destroys crops and leaves a land desolate, even so will Babylon do to Judah. Yet God still pleads for the Jews to repent so that He might yet save them. He also reminds them of why this is happening.
JEREMIAH 4:19-26
19 O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is plundered. Suddenly my tents are plundered, and my curtains in a moment.
21 How long will I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
23 I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; and the heavens, they had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.
25 I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26 I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord, by His fierce anger.
God uses illustrative language to describe the present spiritual state of Judah and the destruction wreaked by the invading Babylonian army. It is similar language to that used by the prophet Joel who prophesied concerning a plague of locusts;
JOEL 2:3
3 A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them.
JEREMIAH 4:27-31
27 For thus says the Lord: “The whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken. I have purposed and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it.
29 The whole city shall flee from the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up on the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken, and not a man shall dwell in it.
30 “And when you are plundered, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain you will make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you; they will seek your life.
31 “For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion bewailing herself; she spreads her hands, saying, ‘Woe is me now, for my soul is weary because of murderers!’
God warns Judah that the invaders cannot be ‘bought off’, allied with, bargained with or reasoned with. They are bent on conquest and destruction and will settle for nothing less.
JEREMIAH 5:1
1 “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; see now and know; and seek in her open places if you can find a man, if there is anyone who executes judgment, who seeks the truth, and I will pardon her.
This is reminiscent of Abraham’s bargaining with God concerning the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim. God had originally said that if He could find 50 righteous people collectively in the cities, He would spare them all. Abraham bargained him down to 10, but God couldn’t even find 10 righteous people in all four cities combined. As a result, He destroyed all four cities in a firestorm, laying perpetual waste to the land and creating the Dead Sea. (Genesis, chapter 18)
Here God says that He would spare Jerusalem if there was one man of the city (Jeremiah was from the priestly city of Anathoth) who was righteous.
JEREMIAH 5:2-9
2 Though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”
3 O Lord, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.
5 I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.” But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the deserts shall destroy them; a leopard will watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many; their backslidings have increased.
7 “How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by those that are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were like well-fed lusty stallions; every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord. “And shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
God reiterates Judah’s continuous rebellion against Him and even though He has abundantly provided for them, they gave their offerings to pagan idols and sinned more and more. As He said through the prophet Micah;
MICAH 3:11
11 Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us.”
And through the prophet Zephaniah;
ZEPHANIAH 3:1-4
1 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city!
2 She has not obeyed His voice, she has not received correction; she has not trusted in the Lord, she has not drawn near to her God.
3 Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave not a bone till morning.
4 Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people; her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
JEREMIAH 5:10-13
10 “Go up on her walls and destroy, but do not make a complete end. Take away her branches, for they are not the Lord’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously with Me,” says the Lord.
12 They have lied about the Lord, and said, “It is not He. Neither will evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.
13 And the prophets become wind, for the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.”
God gives examples of the corrupt thoughts of the people and the ‘prophets’ who lie to them, who predict peace.
JEREMIAH 5:14-19
14 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Behold, I will bring a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” says the Lord. “It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is like an open tomb; they are all mighty men.
17 And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; they shall destroy your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.
18 “Nevertheless in those days,” says the Lord, “I will not make a complete end of you.
19 And it will be when you say, ‘Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.’
It was customary for besiegers to attack cities close to harvest time so that the invading armies could feed from the land and cities would be low on stored food from previous harvests. This would speed up starvation in the besieged city forcing it to surrender more quickly.
God spoke truly about Babylon being “an ancient nation” having been founded in approximately 2300 B.C. It was located approximately 720 miles (1,156 km) walking distance from Jerusalem, much of it over harsh desert terrain. And remember, armies traveled on foot back then. Even if they all rode chariots, it would take months of travel during the spring and summer months to reach their destination.
JEREMIAH 5:20-31
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah, saying,
21 ‘Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not:
22 Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord. ‘Will you not tremble at My presence, who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
23 But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; they have revolted and departed.
24 They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
25 Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you.
26 ‘For among My people are found wicked men; they lie in wait as one who sets snares; they set a trap; they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich.
28 They have grown fat, they are sleek; yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; they do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless; yet they prosper, and the right of the needy they do not defend.
29 Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the Lord. ‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’
30 “An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?
God equates the people with the idols they worship, being unseeing and deaf. As king David said of idols;
PSALMS 115:4-8
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see;
6 They have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell;
7 They have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat.
8 Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.
God then lists some of the sins of Judah and wonders at the fact that even when he withholds rain and harvests, they rebel even more.
JEREMIAH 6:1-8
1“O you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a signal-fire in Beth Haccerem; for disaster appears out of the north, and great destruction.
2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman.
3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her. They shall pitch their tents against her all around. Each one shall pasture in his own place.”
4 “Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are lengthening.
5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.”
6 For thus has the Lord of hosts said: “Cut down trees, and build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst.
7 As a fountain wells up with water, so she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds.
8 Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited.”
In ancient times signal fires were set up on mountain tops and city towers to warn surrounding cities of incoming invaders. This would give surrounding distant cities time to get their people inside, close and bar their gates and prepare for a siege.
Trees were cut down by invaders to build siege engines and battering rams; the city would be surrounded by a dirt mound to entrap people within the walls and to provide platforms for archery towers and ballistae so as to shoot arrows and throw heavy stones at and over the walls.
Israel was allowed to chop down trees when attacking foreign cities with one important exception. God had said;
DEUTERONOMY 20:19-20
19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food.
20 Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.
Lachish and Azekah were the last two major cities to fall before the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, and an inscription has been found which said;
“"Let my lord know that we are watching over the beacon of Lachish, according to the signals which my lord gave, for Azekah is not seen."
By this, it was known that at the time the letter was written, Azekah had already fallen to the Babylonians and Lachish was under siege.
JEREMIAH 6:9-15
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel; as a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches.”
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out on the children outside, and on the assembly of young men together; For even the husband shall be taken with the wife, the aged with him who is full of days.
12 And their houses shall be turned over to others, fields and wives together; for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord.
13 “Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.
14 They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time I punish them, they shall be cast down,” says the Lord.
God promises that Judah would be plundered much like a grape-gatherer would gather grapes a second time after the harvest to ensure that he had gotten them all. God also expresses His frustration that no one will listen but instead despise His attempts at correction.
Verse 11 is interesting in that it indicates that someone other (and greater) than Jeremiah is speaking of pouring God’s wrath on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This fits in with the Trinity doctrine in which the pre-incarnate Jesus, the Judge of all men, is weary of holding in the wrath of the Father and will pour out His fury on the city.
As He told the contemporary prophet Ezekiel concerning their doings;
EZEKIEL 22:13-16
13 “Behold, therefore, I beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst.
14 Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and will do it.
15 I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and remove your filthiness completely from you.
16 You shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations; then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”
JEREMIAH 6:16-21
16 Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
18 Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people— the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it.
20 For what purpose to Me comes frankincense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.”
21 Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.”
God is through trying to correct a rebellious people who will neither listen or obey His words. Their sacrifices are profane to Him, and He is going to allow their own wickedness to consume them.
JEREMIAH 6:22-23
22 Thus says the Lord: “Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth.
23 They will lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, as men of war set in array against you, O daughter of Zion.”
The Babylonians, like the Assyrians they had conquered were renowned and feared for their legendary cruelty to captives.
For example, they would plant 6-foot (2 meter) sharpened stakes in the ground and would impale live captives on them, letting he victim’s own body weight drive the stakes through them. They would also skin captives alive and would nail the intact skins on conquered cities’ walls as an effective terror tactic.
They would also burn captives alive by throwing them into furnaces. The prophet Daniel and two of his friends suffered this fate by the command of an infuriated Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, but were miraculously untouched by the fire. (Daniel, chapter 3)
During the siege two false ‘prophets’ were singled out by God for punishment for their abominable works. God said of them;
JEREMIAH 29:21-23
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes.
22 And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire”;
23 because they have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I know, and am a witness, says the Lord.
JEREMIAH 6:14-30
24 We have heard the report of it; our hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor.
25 Do not go out into the field, nor walk by the way. Because of the sword of the enemy, fear is on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, dress in sackcloth and roll about in ashes! Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.
27 “I have set you as an assayer and a fortress among My people, that you may know and test their way.
28 They are all stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers. They are bronze and iron, they are all corrupters;
29 The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; the smelter refines in vain, for the wicked are not drawn off.
30 People will call them rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them.”
In ancient times, dressing in sackcloth (coarse, un-dyed cloth) and smearing yourself with ashes was a sign of deep mourning and repentance or an expression of sorrow and bitterness.
God tells Jeremiah that he has been designated as an evaluator of the people much as an assayer of precious metals determines their purity.
Silver is rarely found in pure form when mined, it is many times mixed with lead, copper, arsenic and gold and must be refined, usually by smelting and “drawing off” (skimming) the impurities. ‘Rejected silver’ was a term for silver mixed with other alloys (such as lead and arsenic) which dishonest merchants would try to pass off as pure silver.
JEREMIAH 7:1-7
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ ”
3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’
5 “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor,
6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt,
7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
Even though the threat of siege and destruction by the Babylonians is looming, God is still begging Judah to repent and return to righteousness so that He might bless them and not cast them out of the Land.
JEREMIAH 7:8-15
8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know,
10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?
11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.
12 “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.
13 And now, because you have done all these works,” says the Lord, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer,
14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren—the whole posterity of Ephraim.
Shiloh was the first place that God set up as a worship site, where the Ark of the Covenant was housed in the Tabernacle (tent) of meeting (Joshua 18). However because of Israel’s and the corruption of High Priest Eli and sons Hophni and Phinehas, God caused the Philistines to destroy Shiloh and capture the Ark of the Covenant. Hophni and Phinehas were killed by the Philistines and Eli fell, broke his neck and died upon receiving the news. (1 Samuel, chapter 4)
God promises that if they continue to disobey, He will cast them out of the Land in His fury as He did with the entire Northern kingdom of Israel before them.
JEREMIAH 7:16-20
16 “Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.
17 Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.
19 Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?”
20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”
The Jews worshiped the female pagan goddess Asherah which in some ancient Mesopotamian cultures was considered to be the female consort to God. God expresses His wrath against this belief and vows that His anger will no longer be turned aside and that the entire Land will be punished.
Despite this, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that Mary, Jesus’ physical mother be called ‘the Queen of Heaven’. This is blasphemy as it makes Mary, a sinful, created descendant of Adam and Eve to be equal with almighty God, her Creator.
This is the same sin that Satan in his rebellion tried to assert when he claimed to be equal with God, saying what has been called the 5 ‘I wills’;
ISAIAH 14:12-15
12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Hell, to the lowest depths of the Pit.
God will not allow any created thing, be it angel or Man to be equal with Himself. Period.
He is so angry and fed-up with the Jews for their abominable practices, especially this one, that He will not listen to any attempts to intercede with Him.
JEREMIAH 7:21-27
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat.
22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’
24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.
26 Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
27 “Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
This brings up an excellent point. God places far more importance on obedience to His commands than He does on burnt offerings. The burnt offerings were symbolic of the future sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice before God, whose blood alone could atone for sin.
The animal sacrifices could only cover sin in God’s sight, it could not remove them.
As king David said;
PSALM 32:1
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
The sacrifices only deferred sins until Jesus could take the sins of the world into His flesh on the cross. And when He died, the sins were destroyed, but the price of sin demanded by God’s justice still needed to be paid.
Therefore, in the same fashion as the burnt offerings, Jesus went and suffered in agony in the fires of Hell until the price of sin had been met. Then, and only then, was He resurrected as the Savior and Judge of all men.
As king David prophesied concerning the Messiah;
PSALM 16:9-10
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.
10 For You will not leave my soul in Hell, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
As the prophet Samuel said concerning obedience and sacrifice;
1 SAMUEL 15:22
22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.
Yet the Jews continued to rebel and followed the abominations of the nations around them, causing God to say through the prophet Isaiah;
ISAIAH 1:4-8
4 Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.
5 Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more.The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment.
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8 So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Things had become so bad that Isaiah then lamented;
ISAIAH 1:9
9 Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah.
JEREMIAH 7:28-33
28 “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.
29 Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’
30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says the Lord. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it.
31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, 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, nor did it come into My heart.
32 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room.
33 The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away.
34 Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.
The Jews had even gone so far as to place their pagan idols in the Temple itself. As contemporary prophet Ezekiel saw inside the Temple;
EZEKIEL 8:9-12
9 And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.”
10 So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls.
11 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up.
12 Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ”
God also showed him;
EZEKIEL 8:15-16
15 Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.”
16 So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.
JEREMIAH 8:1-3
1 “At that time,” says the Lord, “they shall 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, out of their graves.
2 They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth.
3 Then death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the Lord of hosts.
God’s fury with Judah is evident here in that He will cause the graves of the people to be defiled, and their remains will be treated as garbage because of their sins. And the remnant of the people will be driven to seek death in their despair as the Lord would bring upon them the terrible curses spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 25.
JEREMIAH 8:4-12
4 “Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Will they fall and not rise? Will one turn away and not return?
5 Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return.
6 I listened and heard, but they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his own course, as the horse rushes into the battle.
7 “Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.
8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; so what wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who will inherit them; because from the least even to the greatest everyone is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their punishment they shall be cast down,” says the Lord.
God speaks wrathfully of a people so steeped in corruption that they prefer evil to good, who are so hardened that they feel no shame when their evil doings are discovered.
He says that even the birds of the air instinctively sense the times and seasons and follow their instincts but the people of Jerusalem have had their consciences so calloused that they can’t even feel the instinctive knowledge of good and evil given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. (Genesis chapter 3 - for more information on the subject, please see the study on the Tree of Good and Evil in this site)
Most of the people could neither read nor write and depended on educated scribes for reading and writing of documents and contracts. And if the scribe wrote deceitfully, especially for things like business contracts, who would know if it had been faithfully recorded?
The wise depended on their wisdom to save them, yet their wisdom could appear as foolishness. As the apostle Paul would later observe;
1 CORINTHIANS 3:19
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”;
And as the apostle Paul warned the disciple Timothy;
I TIMOTHY 6:20-21
20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge—
21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.
JEREMIAH 8:13-17
13 “I will surely consume them,” says the Lord. “No grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things I have given them shall pass away from them.” ’ ”
14 “Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For the Lord our God has put us to silence and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 “We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and there was trouble!
16 The snorting of His horses was heard from Dan. The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His strong ones; for they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell in it.”
17 “For behold, I will send serpents among you, vipers which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you,” says the Lord.
The Babylonians would be attacking from the north, therefore the territory of Dan at the southern border of Lebanon would be the first to suffer their wrath. God promises that the Babylonians cannot be bought off or reasoned with but are bent on destruction.
And just as the Medes and Persians would treat Babylon in the near future, so the Babylonians would treat Jerusalem;
ISAIAH 13:17-18
17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not regard silver; and as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye will not spare children.
JEREMIAH 8:18-22
18 I would comfort myself in sorrow; My heart is faint in me.
19 Listen! The voice, the cry of the daughter of my people from a far country: “Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her?” “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images— with foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!”
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt; I am mourning; astonishment has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?
God expresses His pain, wonder and sorrow over the stubborn rebellion of His people.
JEREMIAH 9:1-6
1 Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
3 “And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me,” says the Lord.
4 “Everyone take heed to his neighbor, and do not trust any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanderers.
5 Everyone will deceive his neighbor, and will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord.
God expresses His weariness and sorrow over the actions of His people, forcing Him to destroy them in order to get their attention.
He says to trust no one, all of their neighbors and even members of their own families are robbers, deceivers and predators. I knew a man who thought it was funny and an accomplishment to ‘get over’ (deceive) others. He would lie on resumes in order to get jobs that he was not qualified for and bragged that he could ‘shmooze’ (manipulate others through talk) his way through life. And he was proud of these accomplishments!!!
JEREMIAH 9:7-16
7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and try them; for how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?
8 Their tongue is an arrow shot out; it speaks deceit; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait.
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the Lord. “Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, and for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that no one can pass through; or can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”
12 Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?
13 And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it,
14 but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,”
15 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16 I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”
It has been said to parents concerning disciplining their children, “Never make a threat you’re not willing to carry out.” Empty threats are useless and children pick up on this immediately. The same with God. He has begged the Jews to repent, yet they snub Him and worship their idols and murder and oppress each other more and more, forcing Him to act.
Years ago I read an amusing story of a mother who threatened to throw her young son out the window of their house if he didn’t behave. He didn’t believe her, so one day his Mom opened a window and threw him out of it. It was winter and he didn’t know that there was a large snowdrift just outside (but Mom knew). He wasn’t hurt, but he never took her threats lightly again!
JEREMIAH 9:17-22
17 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for skillful wailing women, that they may come.
18 Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run with tears, and our eyelids gush with water.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How we are plundered! We are greatly ashamed, because we have forsaken the land, because we have been cast out of our dwellings.’ ”
20 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth; teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
21 For death has come through our windows, has entered our palaces, to kill off the children—no longer to be outside! And the young men—no longer on the streets!
22 Speak, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, like cuttings after the harvester, and no one shall gather them.’ ”
In ancient times and even in some cultures today, when a family member dies, women come and weep and wail and play noisy instruments on behalf of the bereaved, supposedly expressing the sorrow of the grieving family.
God predicts that invading troops will come through windows to loot and slaughter. Their young men will be slaughtered and will litter the streets like castaway grain stalks after a harvest.
JEREMIAH 9:22-26
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
24 But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.
25 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised—
26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.”
God warns the wise to not trust in their wisdom, nor the rich in their riches for neither will save them from what is coming. Having faith and trust in God can save them, if they are willing to turn to Him. But for a lot of people it is easier to follow bad habits than it is to cultivate good ones.
As God would later lament;
JEREMIAH 13:23
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.
JEREMIAH 10:1-5
1 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus says the Lord: “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple.
5 They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.”
God speaks pointedly and mockingly of the idols created by men, lifeless inanimate physical objects formed and created by craftsmen, yet worshiped as almighty gods. Even today, people refuse to believe in God as they cannot see Him, believing only in what can be proven scientifically.
Despite all this there are religions today which still use idols in their worship practices, Hinduism and Roman Catholicism being the biggest. The Catholics claim that they do not worship statues, yet they violate God’s commandment to Israel concerning statues, when He said;
LEVITICUS 26:1
1 You shall make no idols nor molded image, neither rear up a standing image, neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down to it: for I am the Lord your God.
When Israel came out of Egypt, even after seeing God’s miracles, they created a golden calf as they wanted to worship a God they could see. Even today, there is ample historical, archaeological and scientific evidence to prove His existence. Yet people would rather believe that we descended from apes rather than believe that we were lovingly created by God.
JEREMIAH 10:6-16
6 Inasmuch as there is none like You, O Lord (You are great, and Your name is great in might),
7 Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For this is Your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.
8 But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; a wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.
9 Silver is beaten into plates; it is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the metalsmith; blue and purple are their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men.
10 But the Lord is the true God, He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.
11 Thus you shall say to them: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”
12 He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion.
13 When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens: “and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”
14 Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge; every metalsmith is put to shame by an image; for his molded image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
15 They are futile, a work of errors; in the time of their punishment they shall perish.
16 The Portion of Jacob is not like them, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the Lord of hosts is His name.
Jeremiah recounts the majesty and works of the Lord, implying that lifeless idols have no such power or glory to show that they are gods. As the apostle Paul would later observe;
ROMANS 1:18-23
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
Paul bluntly states that evidence of an intelligent God is clearly visible in all of Creation, by the very order of that Creation. A good example is found in the Big Bang Theory explaining the creation of the Universe.
The Big Bang theory postulates that the Universe started out as a incredibly dense, hot ball of plasma that exploded into the present Universe. As the plasma cooled it began forming the familiar atoms of the Periodic table, becoming the elements that form all matter today.
But consider this. The sub-atomic particles followed the laws of chemistry, physics and mathematics when forming atoms, laws that were in place before the Big Bang happened! Therefore an Intelligence with an incredible grasp and knowledge of these laws created them before the Universe was created. Think about that.
JEREMIAH 10:17-25
17 Gather up your wares from the land, O inhabitant of the fortress!
18 For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will throw out at this time the inhabitants of the land, and will distress them, that they may find it so.”
19 Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is severe. But I say, “Truly this is an infirmity, and I must bear it.”
20 My tent is plundered, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me, and they are no more. There is no one to pitch my tent anymore, or set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become dull-hearted, and have not sought the Lord; therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
22 Behold, the noise of the report has come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, a den of jackals.
23 O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
24 O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out Your fury on the Gentiles, who do not know You, and on the families who do not call on Your name; for they have eaten up Jacob, devoured him and consumed him, and made his dwelling place desolate.
Jeremiah laments on the soon-coming state of Judah which God in His fury will cast out of the Promised Land into a foreign, pagan country. He asks God to remember justice and mercy in His judgments, lest the nation be completely destroyed before Him.
JEREMIAH 11:1-5
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
3 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant
4 which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’
5 that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is this day.” ’ ” And I answered and said, “So be it, Lord.”
As has been said before, the Jews curse and blame the Gentiles for their woes and the persecutions they have suffered throughout history, yet God Himself curses those who abandon His covenants with Him and uses the Gentiles for exacting His vengeance upon them.
As God said of the Assyrians whom He had sent against Judah during the time of king Hezekiah;
ISAIAH 10:5-6
5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
6 I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath. I will give him charge, to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
JEREMIAH 11:6-17
6 Then the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them.
7 For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.”
8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’ ”
9 And the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”
11 Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them.
12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
13 For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.
14 “So do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.
15 “What has My beloved to do in My house, having done lewd deeds with many? And the holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice.
16 The Lord called your name, Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit. With the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken.
17 “For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”
God is especially angry for even though Judah has had hundreds of years of history in which He has punished both Israel and Judah for their abandonment of His covenants and laws, they still rejoice in doing evil and worshiping Ba’al.
Yet when they get in trouble, they immediately beg Him to save them, something He has had enough of. He will not hear them, and they will discover the worthlessness of their idols who cannot save them
JEREMIAH 11:18-22
18 Now the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings.
19 But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”
20 But, O Lord of hosts, You who judge righteously, testing the mind and the heart, let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You I have revealed my cause.
21 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, lest you die by our hand’—
22 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;
23 and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their punishment.’ ”
Satan once again uses fear and intimidation to try to thwart God’s words. Jeremiah’s own townsfolk are threatening him in order to shut him up. Verse 19 reflects the prophecy concerning the persecution and trial of Jesus as prophesied by Isaiah;
ISAIAH 53:7
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
God promises to completely wipe out the inhabitants of Anathoth because of their threats. What is even more tragic is that Anathoth was one of the cities given solely to the Priests by Joshua during the conquest of Canaan. (Joshua 21:13-19). Thus the priests, who should have supported Jeremiah were instead his enemies.
JEREMIAH 12:1-4
1 Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead with You; yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?
2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their mind.
3 But You, O Lord, know me; You have seen me, And You have tested my heart toward You. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither? The beasts and birds are consumed, for the wickedness of those who dwell there, because they said, “He will not see our final end.”
Jeremiah poses an old question to God, asking why the wicked seem to prosper and grow mighty while they consume their neighbors and the land is consumed because of them. They act piously in public, giving lip service to God but their hearts are full of wickedness and deceit.
JEREMIAH 12:5-9
5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?
6 For even your brothers, the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; yes, they have called a multitude after you. Do not believe them, even though they speak smooth words to you.
7 “I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.
8 My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest; it cries out against Me; therefore I have hated it.
9 My heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture; the vultures all around are against her. Come, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour!
God essentially tells Jeremiah, “If this wearies you, how will you handle it when things get really bad?”, signifying that far worse things are coming.
The reference to a speckled vulture is a peculiarity among birds, in that they attack any bird that is different from themselves. For example, take a white chicken and put a blot of black ink on it’s feathers. The other chickens will gather around and peck it to death because it’s “different”. And because Jeremiah is righteous, the men of Judah are against him.
This is reminiscent to the plight of the prophet Amos who prophesied against idolatrous king Jeroboam II of the Northern Kingdom of Israel before it was destroyed by the Assyrians;
AMOS 7:10
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.
JEREMIAH 12:10-13
10 “Many rulers have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion underfoot; they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it desolate; desolate, it mourns to Me; the whole land is made desolate, because no one takes it to heart.
12 The plunderers have come on all the desolate heights in the wilderness, for the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the other end of the land; no flesh shall have peace.
13 They have sown wheat but reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain but do not profit. But be ashamed of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
Much as pigs will devour produce of the field and ruin the rest, even so have the rulers devoured the best of the land and its people. As the expression goes, “The creek won’t run clear until you get the pigs out of it.”
Note that God says that no flesh shall have peace, meaning both Man and beast will suffer destruction at the hands of the invaders.
JEREMIAH 12:14-17
14 Thus says the Lord: “Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
15 Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land.
16 And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people.
17 But if they do not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the Lord.
True to His word, God caused king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to sweep down the eastern side of the Jordan River as far as Egypt, destroying the Amorites, Ammonites, Moabites, and Syrians. He then swept through the Promised Land and destroyed the Philistines and Edomites, all ancient enemies of Judah.
And again, true to His word, He brought Israel and Judah back to the Land after their 70-year captivity in Babylon as recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
JEREMIAH 13:1-11
1 Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.”
2 So I got a sash according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist.
3 And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying,
4 “Take the sash that you acquired, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.”
5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6 Now it came to pass after many days that the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.”
7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9 “Thus says the Lord: ‘In this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who follow the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing.
11 For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’
This would have been quite a trip for Jeremiah, a distance estimated to be about 770 miles (1,240 km). He probably traveled with a trade caravan or even on foot, a journey of at least two months. And that is only one way, he had to travel all that way back as well!
The place where Jeremiah hid the sash was probably ruined by the Euphrates River overflowing its banks which usually happened in the Spring when mountain snows melted and flowed into the Euphrates River. God was comparing Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar’s coming conquest to be like the Euphrates overflowing its banks.
This is not the first time such an analogy has been used by God to describe a Mesopotamian conqueror. During the reign of king Hezekiah of Judah God described the coming attack of Assyria;
ISAIAH 8:7-8
7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them the waters of the River, strong and mighty— the king of Assyria and all his glory; he will go up over all his channels and go over all his banks.
8 He will pass through Judah, he will overflow and pass over, he will reach up to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.
NOTE: Carvings of Assyrian and Babylonian monarchs depict them as winged bulls, indicative of their power and speed in conquest. God meant that the armies of Assyria would fill the land.
JEREMIAH 13:12-14
12 “Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.” ’ “And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’
13 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness!
14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ”
God is speaking in anger at the unrepentant attitudes of the people of Jerusalem, both fathers and sons who don’t take His words seriously. Instead there is a ‘party hearty’ attitude like that during the prophet Isaiah’s time as the Assyrians were besieging Jerusalem.
As God spoke through Isaiah;
ISAIAH 22:12-14
12 And in that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth.
13 But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
14 Then it was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts, “Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you, even to your death,” says the Lord God of hosts.
JEREMIAH 13:15-23
15 Hear and give ear: do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it dense darkness.
17 But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.
18 Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves; sit down, for your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”
19 The cities of the South shall be shut up, and no one shall open them; Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it; it shall be wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful sheep?
21 What will you say when He punishes you? For you have taught them to be chieftains, to be head over you. Will not pangs seize you, like a woman in labor?
22 And if you say in your heart, “Why have these things come upon me?” For the greatness of your iniquity your skirts have been uncovered, your heels made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.
God has given up on the people of Jerusalem repenting of their ways and tells them to prepare for destruction and captivity. Their cities will be laid waste and the land will be without inhabitant.
JEREMIAH 13:24-27
24 “Therefore I will scatter them like stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
25 This is your lot, the portion of your measures from Me,” says the Lord, “Because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore I will uncover your skirts over your face, that your shame may appear.
27 I have seen your adulteries and your lustful neighings, the lewdness of your harlotry, your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you still not be made clean?”
God compares Jerusalem to a wicked woman who commits adultery and harlotry. His relationship with Judah is basically like a husband married to a treacherous wife, who has sought out other lovers, in this case Baals, Asheroth (Asherahs) and other pagan gods.
As He had told Jeremiah;
JEREMIAH 3:20
20 Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” says the Lord.
As a result, he is going to punish the nation for their wickedness, destroying the sinners out of it.
JEREMIAH 14:1-6
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.
2 “Judah mourns, and her gates languish; they mourn for the land, and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
3 Their nobles have sent their lads for water; they went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is parched, or there was no rain in the land, the plowmen were ashamed; they covered their heads.
5 Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field, but left because there was no grass.
6 And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights; they sniffed at the wind like jackals; their eyes failed because there was no grass.”
Nowadays, such a drought would be blamed on “climate change”. Yet the Lord spoke through the prophet Haggai concerning the sins of Judah;
HAGGAI 1:10-11
10 Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.
11 For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
When Jesus returns, God promised through the prophet Zechariah;
ZECHARIAH 14:16-19
16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain.
18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Animals who give birth during drought conditions will abandon their young so that the lives of the mothers will be preserved. Horses and donkeys can smell water at great distances, sampling the breezes for signs of water.
JEREMIAH 14:7-10
7 O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against You.
8 O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, why should You be like a stranger in the land, and like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why should You be like a man astonished, like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O Lord, are in our midst, and we are called by Your name; do not leave us!
10 Thus says the Lord to this people: “Thus they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, and punish their sins.”
Jeremiah begs for mercy on Judah, but God states that He has had enough and the time of their punishment has come.
JEREMIAH 14:11-18
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for this people, for their good.
12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”
13 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ”
14 And the Lord said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.
15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed!
16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’
17 “Therefore you shall say this word to them: ‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.
18 If I go out to the field, then behold, those slain with the sword! And if I enter the city, then behold, those sick from famine! Yes, both prophet and priest go about in a land they do not know.’ ”
God had previously said of false prophets;
DEUTERONOMY 18:20-22
20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’
21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’—
22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
God promises that the false prophets who say that sword, famine and disease will not come will die of those very catastrophes. The dead will litter the streets and there will be no one to bury them. Jerusalem and Judah will appear to be an alien place due to the coming disasters.
JEREMIAH 14:19-22
19 Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but there was no good; and for the time of healing, and there was trouble.
20 We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.
21 Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake; do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. Remember, do not break Your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are You not He, O Lord our God? Therefore we will wait for You, since You have made all these.
Even though God has recounted their sins to them the people still ask, “Why are You doing this, what have we done to deserve this?” But God had already told Jeremiah not to pray for the good of the people in verse 11 above, showing that He would not relent in His punishment of the nation.
Note that the people beg God not to break His covenant with them, although they have broken their covenant with Him over and over. And note that they are now asking God for mercy, not their idols.
JEREMIAH 15:1-4
1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.
2 And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.” ’
3 “And I will appoint over them four forms of destruction,” says the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4 I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
God’s wrath against Jerusalem is evident here, for even if Moses and Samuel stood before Him and interceded before Him He would not listen to them. And verse 4 above shows that even though we sin and ask forgiveness, there are many times a price to be paid for that sin.
King Manasseh was an abominable king who was worse than any of the idolatrous nations who were destroyed by Joshua and all of the idolatrous kings before him. He later repented and asked forgiveness and while he received it, God vowed to punish the nation for their despicable worship practices and actions under Manasseh’s rule (2 Kings, chapters 21-24).
JEREMIAH 15:5-9
5 “For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?
6 You have forsaken Me,” says the Lord, “You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting!
7 And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, since they do not return from their ways.
8 Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, against the mother of the young men, a plunderer at noonday; I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them suddenly.
9 “She languishes who has borne seven; she has breathed her last; her sun has gone down while it was yet day; she has been ashamed and confounded. And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies,” says the Lord.
God promises that Jerusalem will be desolate, with no one to take pity on her. Her young men will be killed, her widows will be innumerable, God will bring all of the terrible curses of Moses to bear on the people, (Deuteronomy 28:15-68)
JEREMIAH 15:10-14
10 Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me.
11 The Lord said: “Surely it will be well with your remnant; surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you in the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.
12 Can anyone break iron, the northern iron and the bronze?
13 Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder without price, because of all your sins, throughout your territories.
14 And I will make you cross over with your enemies into a land which you do not know; for a fire is kindled in My anger, which shall burn upon you.”
Jeremiah laments his birth and complains that even though he has done nothing wrong, people still hate him. God promises that things will go well for him and that even the enemy will treat him kindly even when the nation is destroyed.
JEREMIAH 15:15-18
15 O Lord, You know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.
17 I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, for You have filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, as waters that fail?
Jeremiah asks God to remember his goodness and obedience and that even his name Jeremiah (“Yahweh is exalted”) is meant to glorify God. He rejoices in God’swords, but is in pain for the misery and destruction they promise to bring.
JEREMIAH 15:19-21
19 Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, then I will bring you back; you shall stand before Me; if you take out the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, but you must not return to them.
20 And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and deliver you,” says the Lord.
21 “I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”
God promises Jeremiah that Judah will resist his words and will fight against him, but he will prevail because God will protect him. He warns Jeremiah to let the people turn back to him but he is not to ally himself with them or do in accordance with their works.
JEREMIAH 16:1-13
1 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying,
2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.”
3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land:
4 “They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”
5 For thus says the Lord: “Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies.
6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them.
7 Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother.
8 Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”
9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 “And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’
11 then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law.
12 And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.
13 Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’
God’s wrath and fury are on full display here, yet Judah still has the gall to ask, “What did we do to deserve this?” It truly shows God’s anger and contempt in that he has promised that the dead will rot on the ground and will be food for scavenger birds and animals.
God lists some of Judah’s sins and the measure of His frustration when He told contemporary prophet Ezekiel;
EZEKIEL 22:6-13
6 “Look, the princes of Israel: each one has used his power to shed blood in you.
7 In you they have made light of father and mother; in your midst they have oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the fatherless and the widow.
8 You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.
9 In you are men who slander to cause bloodshed; in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness.
10 In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are set apart during their impurity.
11 One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter.
12 In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.
13 “Behold, therefore, I beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst.
Murder, robbery, extortion, oppression, perversion of justice; men sleeping with their mothers, sisters, daughters-in-law, sleeping with women during their “time of the month”. Yet the people have the nerve to ask, “Why are you angry with us”?
JEREMIAH 16:14-18
14 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
15 but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
16 “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17 For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.
18 And first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols.”
God promises to bring the Jews back to the land, but only after His wrath has been spent and He has thoroughly punished the sinners who have defiled the Land with bloodshed and idolatry.
JEREMIAH 16:19-21
19 O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
20 Will a man make gods for himself, which are not gods?
21 “Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is the Lord.
God holds out hope to the Gentiles, and will show them that he is God. In one example He drove mighty king Nebuchadnezzar insane for 7 years, and after he recovered he openly and publicly honored God throughout his kingdom. (Daniel, chapter 4)
JEREMIAH 17:1-4
1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with the point of a diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars,
2 While their children remember their altars and their wooden images by the green trees on the high hills.
3 O My mountain in the field, I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures, and your high places of sin within all your borders.
4 And you, even yourself, shall let go of your heritage which I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you do not know; for you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever.”
God’s wrath against Judah will never be quenched; those who die in the siege will suffer His wrath forever in Hell, and those who live will be cast out of the Land and will serve other gods in a foreign land.
This would fall under the condemnation of the apostle Peter who said;
2 PETER 2:21-22
21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit, and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
JEREMIAH 17:5-8
5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.
6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Harvests are the lifeblood of a nation and God compares the fruitfulness of remaining faithful to the futility of rejecting Him in simple terms that even the common people can understand.
JEREMIAH 17:9-13
9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
11 “As a partridge that broods but does not hatch, so is he who gets riches, but not by right; it will leave him in the midst of his days, and at his end he will be a fool.”
12 A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. “Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”
God speaks of the futility of depending on riches; they can vanish after a bad investment; thieves can break in and steal them; nor can their wealth save them in time of trouble. When God sent the Medes and the Persians against Babylon, He said;
ISAIAH 13:17-18
17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not regard silver; and as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye will not spare children.
The Lord tests the minds of men to know their thoughts and tests the hearts to know Man’s intentions, and He will reward everyone according to their works. As the apostle Paul said;
ROMANS 2:5-11
5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:
7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;
8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,
9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;
10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
11 For there is no partiality with God.
God shows no partiality, he treats all men equally and gives them according to their works, wrath and tribulation to the wicked, praise and eternal life and glory to those who follow His commandments.
Note: the term “Greek” is used as a collective reference to the Gentiles.
JEREMIAH 17:14-18
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.
15 Indeed they say to me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now!”
16 As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You, nor have I desired the woeful day; you know what came out of my lips; it was right there before You.
17 Do not be a terror to me; You are my hope in the day of doom.
18 Let them be ashamed who persecute me, but do not let me be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of doom, and destroy them with double destruction!
Judah’s hearts are so hardened that they mock Jeremiah, essentially saying, “So where is this great destruction you keep talking about? Show us, and we’ll believe you!” They have no idea of the horrors, terrors and anguish that are coming.
Note that Jeremiah relies on God to avenge him, rather than curse his enemies. God had said;
DEUTERONOMY 42:35
35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; their foot shall slip in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them.’
The apostle Paul also warned;
ROMANS 2:19
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
JEREMIAH 17:19-27
19 Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20 and say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.
21 Thus says the Lord: “Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22 nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
23 But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.
24 “And it shall be, if you heed Me carefully,” says the Lord, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it,
25 then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever.
26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland, from the mountains and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord.
27 “But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” ’ ”
God created the Sabbath day as a day of rest and relaxation after 6 days of hard work so that both men and animals could be refreshed. However greedy merchants and businessmen afraid of losing a shekel of business ignored the Sabbath, depriving their servants and animals of a much-needed day of rest.
JEREMIAH 18:1-11
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:
2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
7 The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,
8 if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.
9 And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,
10 if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
11 “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.” ’ ”
Good, evil, time and history are within God’s power to change as He sees fit. He will give sinful people warnings to turn from their evil and will sometimes send affliction on them (drought, disease, devouring insects, etc.) in order to gain their attention.
If they repent, He will relent and save them; if they refuse, he sends stronger warnings and disasters until he finally gets fed up and destroys them. But he doesn’t destroy arbitrarily, He gave Judah 40 years to turn from their evil before He sent the Babylonians against them.
In like fashion, God gave Judea 40 years after Jesus’ death to believe that He was the promised Messiah. He died in 26 A.D. and as prophesied, in 66 A.D. the Roman X and XIII legions began the destruction of the nation, scattering the Jews to the four winds for 1,878 years because of their unbelief.
JEREMIAH 18:12-17
12 And they said, “That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord: “Ask now among the Gentiles, who has heard such things? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14 Will a man leave the snow water of Lebanon, which comes from the rock of the field? Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?
15 “Because My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to worthless idols. And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, from the ancient paths, to walk in pathways and not on a highway,
16 To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and shake his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity.”
God reiterates His reasons for the coming destruction of the nation, calling on the nation to bear witness and justifying the disasters he will bring upon them.
JEREMIAH 18:18-23
18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
19 Give heed to me, O Lord, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me!
20 Shall evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; let their wives become widows and bereaved of their children. Let their men be put to death, their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Lord, You know all their counsel which is against me, to slay me. Provide no atonement for their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from Your sight; but let them be overthrown before You. Deal thus with them in the time of Your anger.
The wicked hate the correction of the righteous and Satan is tireless in his attempts to intimidate or destroy the righteous. Some examples:
The prophet Amos was told by a Ba’al worshiping priest of Bethel in the idolatrous Northern Kingdom of Israel;
AMOS 7:10-13
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.
11 For thus Amos has said: ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive from their own land.’ ”
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos: “Go, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread, and there prophesy.
13 But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the royal residence.
According to First Century historian Flavius Josephus, the prophet Isaiah was stuffed into a log and sawn in half by idolotrous and murderous king Manasseh of Judah.
God spoke through Isaiah concerning the wicked hating correction
ISAIAH 30:9-11
9 This is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord;
10 Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
11 Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”
JEREMIAH 19:1-15
1 Thus says the Lord: “Go and get a potter’s earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests.
2 And go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I will tell you,
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 will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle.
4 “Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents
5 (they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind),
6 therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7 And 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 hands of those who seek their lives; their corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
8 I will make this city desolate and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.
9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the desperation with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall drive them to despair.” ’
10 “Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you,
11 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury.
12 Thus I will do to this place,” says the Lord, “and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet.
13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’ ”
14 Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, 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,
15 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’ ”
The actual location of the valley of Hinnom / Tophet is unknown, but is generally accepted as a valley outside the south-eastern corner of Jerusalem’s Old City walls. The valley was used as a garbage dump and had a gate known as the ‘Dung Gate’ (Nehemiah, chapter 3) or the ‘Potsherd Gate’ (verse 2 above) leading out to it.
Human and animal refuse, broken pottery fragments (potsherds), animal carcasses and other trash and garbage were disposed of in the valley and fires were kept burning there to reduce the stench and prevent disease.
It was also a place for ritual infant sacrifice to Ba’al and Molech, Satan’s detestable perversion of Israel’s burnt offerings to God. Infants were thrown alive into furnaces dedicated to these despicable gods while devotees pounded huge drums so as to drown out the agonized screams of the victims.
God promises that just as the city has been defiled with blood, the Valley of Tophet will also be filled with blood and will be filled with the bodies of those killed by the Babylonians. Their dead carcasses will be food for scavenger birds, wild animals and feral dogs.
He promises that the famine from the siege will be so great that the inhabitants of Jerusalem will resort to cannibalism just to survive, an event to which Jeremiah would be an eye-witness.
JEREMIAH 20:1-2
1 Now Pashhur the son of Immer, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.
2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.
This shows the decadence of the people in the fact that the deputy high-priest in charge of the Temple assaulted Jeremiah and imprisoned him because of his prophecies.
JEREMIAH 20:3-6
3 And it happened on the next day that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib.
4 For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the sword.
5 Moreover I will deliver all the wealth of this city, all its produce, and all its precious things; all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them, seize them, and carry them to Babylon.
6 And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. You shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die, and be buried there, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies.’ ”
Apparently Pashhur was one of the ‘false prophets’ of Jerusalem which is why he was so angry with Jeremiah, for Jeremiah contradicted his lying words. Rather than slaughtering Pashhur outright, God was going to show his lies for what they were before his eyes and the eyes of his family. He would see the destruction of Jerusalem, the slaughter of his friends and would bear his shame as a prisoner in Babylon for the rest of his life.
JEREMIAH 20:7-13
7 O Lord, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; everyone mocks me.
8 For when I spoke, I cried out; I shouted, “Violence and plunder!” Because the word of the Lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily.
9 Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.
10 For I heard many mocking: “Fear on every side!” “Report,” they say, “and we will report it!” All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying, “Perhaps he can be induced; then we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me as a mighty, awesome One. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper. Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.
12 But, O Lord of hosts, You who test the righteous, and see the mind and heart, let me see Your vengeance on them; for I have pleaded my cause before You.
13 Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For He has delivered the life of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
Jeremiah complains to the Lord that he has become a curse and a source of derision to the people of Jerusalem. They watch for any sign of weakness or error, mocking his prophecies and waiting for an opportunity to discredit and destroy him.
Jeremiah can’t hold the words of the Lord within as God will not allow him to remain silent. As He would later speak through Jeremiah;
JEREMIAH 23:29
29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
JEREMIAH 20:14-18
14 Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!
15 Let the man be cursed who brought news to my father, saying, “A male child has been born to you!” making him very glad.
16 And let that man be like the cities which the Lord overthrew, and did not relent; let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noon,
17 Because he did not kill me from the womb, that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb always enlarged with me.
18 Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
Jeremiah’s words are eerily reminiscent to those of Job (Job, chapter 3) in which both curse the day they were born, but for different reasons. Job was depressed and sorrowful because of the afflictions that Satan had been allowed to torment him with, and Jeremiah was depressed and sorrowful because of the afflictions suffered from his countrymen.
In both cases, neither man had sinned or angered God, they suffered as soldiers in the war between God and Satan. They were examples to us of the realities of this war and that just because we may suffer hardship and persecution doesn’t mean that we are being punished for sinning.
Satan and his servants, both human and demon will always seek to destroy the righteous, but as Job chapters 1 and 2 show, God puts hard limits on Satan as to what he can do to the righteous. As the apostle Paul observed;
1 TIMOTHY 3:12-13
12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
JEREMIAH 21:1-7
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,
2 “Please inquire of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that the king may go away from us.”
3 Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah,
4 ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and I will assemble them in the midst of this city.
5 I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath.
6 I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence.
7 And afterward,” says the Lord, “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy.” ’
Note how the people worshiped Ba’al and pagan gods, mocking and ignoring God’s dire warnings through his prophets, yet when God’s threats come to pass, they immediately beg His prophets to intercede for them. But God has had enough of their wickedness and lip-service to Him and is about to pour out his full fury on the city and nation.
NOTE: The Babylonians and the Chaldeans are the same people. The Chaldeans were the people of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that were part of the Babylonian empire, whereas the Babylonians were the residents of Babylon, the city itself.
JEREMIAH 21:8-14
8 “Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.
9 He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be as a prize to him.
10 For I have set My face against this city for adversity and not for good,” says the Lord. “It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.” ’
11 “And concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord,
12 O house of David! Thus says the Lord: “Execute judgment in the morning; and deliver him who is plundered out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go forth like fire and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
13 “Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain,” says the Lord, “who say ‘Who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter our dwellings?’
14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,” says the Lord; “I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it shall devour all things around it.” ’ ”
Even in His wrath, God still offers hope to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He has determined to destroy and cleanse the land and nation because of the sin and wickedness in it, but if the inhabitants will surrender willingly to the Babylonians they will taken captive to Babylon but will keep their lives as a reward.
Those who refuse will die horribly from disease, famine, wild beasts and the sword. The survivors will be taken in chains for the entire 770 mile (1240 km) desert journey to Babylon.
JEREMIAH 22:1-9
1 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word,
2 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates!
3 Thus says the Lord: “Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you indeed do this thing, then shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David.
5 But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house shall become a desolation.” ’ ”
6 For thus says the Lord to the house of the king of Judah: “You are Gilead to Me, the head of Lebanon; Yet I surely will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons; they shall cut down your choice cedars and cast them into the fire.
8 And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, ‘Why has the Lord done so to this great city?’
9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’ ”
God gives a final warning to king Zedekiah and Judah, promising blessings if they obey, and destruction if they do not. He compares Judah to a beautiful piece of land but will make the land such a desolation that passers-by will question why God made it an uninhabited wasteland.
And note that because He could swear by no one greater, he swore by Himself to do these things.
JEREMIAH 22:10-12
10 Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him; weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went from this place: “He shall not return here anymore,
12 but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
King Shallum (also known as Jehoahaz) became king after his father Josiah was killed opposing Pharaoh Necho II who was on his way north to fight Nebuchadnezzar II (then crown-prince of Babylon) for control of the Middle East. (2 Kings, chapter 23)
Defeated at the Battle of Carchemish (605 B.C.), Necho withdrew and found that Judah had installed wicked son Shallum (Jehoahaz) as king. Perhaps stung by Josiah’s opposition, Necho dethroned Jehoahaz and took him prisoner to Egypt where God promised that he would die and installed his wicked older brother Jehoiakim as king of Judah.
JEREMIAH 22:13-19
13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor’s service without wages and gives him nothing for his work,
14 Who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers, and cut out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion.’
15 “Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this knowing Me?” says the Lord.
17 “Yet your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, and practicing oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
“They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, my sister!’ They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Alas, master!’ or ‘Alas, his glory!’
19 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
After being installed as king of Judah by Pharaoh Necho II Jehoiakim became a vassal of Egypt. When Egypt was defeated in 605 B.C. after the battle of Carchemish, Jehoiakim switched his allegiance to Babylon. When Nebuchadnezzar’s assault on Egypt in 601 B.C. failed, Jehoiakim switched his allegiance back to Egypt.
Infuriated, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and in 598 B.C. and captured the city. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recorded that Nebuchadnezzar had Jehoiakim killed and ordered that his body be thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem, perhaps in the desecrated Hinnom Valley.
Jehoiakim was considered to be despicable even for an evil king. Rabbinical literature describes Jehoiakim as a godless tyrant who committed atrocious sins and crimes. He is portrayed as living in an incestuous relationship with his mother, daughter-in-law, and stepmother, and was in the habit of murdering men, whose wives he then violated and whose property he seized. He also had tattooed his body.
JEREMIAH 22:20-23
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out, and lift up your voice in Bashan; cry from Abarim, for all your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not hear.’ This has been your manner from your youth, that you did not obey My voice.
22 The wind shall eat up all your rulers, and your lovers shall go into captivity; surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated for all your wickedness.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, making your nest in the cedars, how gracious will you be when pangs come upon you, like the pain of a woman in labor?
God prophesies that all of Judah’s neighbors will go into captivity before the Babylonians. History shows that Nebuchadnezzar swept down both sides of the Jordan river, capturing Lebanon, the Amorites, Moabites, the Israeli tribes of Gad, Reuben, the half-tribe of Manasseh and Syrians to the east; Samaria, Judah, Philistia, and Gaza to the west; and Edom to the south.
JEREMIAH 22:24-30
24 “As I live,” says the Lord, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off;
25 and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear—the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die.
27 But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.
28 “Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol— a vessel in which is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his descendants, and cast into a land which they do not know?
29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!
30 Thus says the Lord: ‘Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for none of his descendants shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”
Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim was another in the line of evil kings of Judah and God says that even though Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah) was like a ring of authority on his right hand, He would cast him away. He would be the final king of Judah and would die in captivity in Babylon.
And as God prophesied, Jeconiah (also known as Zedekiah) would see his sons killed by Nebuchadnezzar and would die childless. One of his descendants (probably a son of one of his children before his sons were killed) would be Zerubbabel, who became governor of Judah after the 70 year captivity was ended.
JEREMIAH 23:1-8
1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord.
2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord.
3 “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.
5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
8 but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”
This is a clear reference to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Jews have long expected that the Messiah would be a mighty military leader who will restore the kingdom to Israel forever and destroy their enemies.
He will indeed do this, however it was prophesied that He would first come as a “Suffering Servant”, the only sacrifice acceptable to God for the eternal atonement for sins. The Jews however don’t accept this as it doesn’t fit their pre-conceived conception as to what the Messiah should be. This despite clear prophecies that the Messiah would first suffer for sin (Isaiah, chapter 53 for example).
Rabbis who have never read the New Testament have roundly condemned it as “anti-Semitic”, and falsely claim that it is full of curses against Jews, that it is a book of hatred written by apostate Jews and they forbid Jews to read it. Yet those Jews who have had the courage to read it are shocked and surprised to find that it is a book written for, and to Jews, by Jews, about Jews and clearly shows that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.
The Gentiles in turn have no pre-conceived ideas of the person of the Messiah and therefore are more open-minded concerning Him. They also have both Testaments, and they understand them, seeing plainly how God’s plan of salvation has unfolded down through history, fulfilling God’s laments of;
DEUTERONOMY 32;21
21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
And;
ISAIAH 65:1-2
1 “I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by My name.
2 I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts;
God also warns concerning the Messiah and the unbelief of the nation of Israel;
ISAIAH 8:13-15
13 The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread.
14 He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken.”
JEREMIAH 23:9-15
9 My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the Lord, and because of His holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, and their might is not right.
11 “For both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord.
12 “Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery ways; in the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them; for I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment,” says the Lord.
13 “And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to err.
14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: ‘Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ”
Wormwood is a plant related to daisies and was used to rid the intestine of worms (roundworms and pinworms). Wormwood also contains poisonous compounds and has a bitter smell and taste. And just as physical wormwood contains physical poison, false prophets speak spiritual poison to the people.
JEREMIAH 23:16-24
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You shall have peace” ’; and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”
18 For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.
21 “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.
23 “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord, “and not a God afar off?
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.
False prophets have been a plague to Israel since the time of Moses. Satan wastes no opportunity to seek to deceive people by speaking supposedly from God. We have them even today. I attended a church one time where the minister had a cassette tape in which a self-proclaimed “prophetess” shouted predictions.
What caught my attention was that he said that most of her past prophecies had come true. What immediately came to mind was;
DEUTERONOMY 18:20-22
20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’
21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’—
22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
Some of her “prophecies” had already failed, showing her to be a modern day false prophetess.
JEREMIAH 23:25-32
25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,
27 who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.
28 “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord.
29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30 “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’
32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” says the Lord.
The false prophets, greedily seeking adulation and glory would try to out-do each other, building their “prophecies” on the lying words of other false prophets who prophesied by Ba’al. Some even prophesied in the name of the Lord but their words lacked the spiritual conviction of God’s words.
JEREMIAH 23:33-40
33 “So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the oracle of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the Lord.
34 “And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ I will even punish that man and his house.
35 Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’
36 And the oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.
37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’
38 But since you say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ”
39 therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence.
40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”
God tells Jeremiah that when people ask what the Lord has spoken, he is essentially to tell them, ‘Why are you asking me? Go to your own ‘prophets’ for counsel and word as to what will happen. As for God, He has forsaken you as you have forsaken Him and will cast you out of His sight.’
JEREMIAH 24:1
1 The Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
On March 15/16 of 597 B.C. Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) was captured and carried away to Babylon along with the skilled people and nobles by king Nebuchadnezzar II. The purpose of this was to enrich the Babylonian culture with skilled craftsmen, while the nobles were castrated, made eunuchs and served their conqueror as court officials and advisors.
Clay tablets recovered in the ruins of Babylon and dated to 597 B.C. record the daily food rations allotted to Jeconiah and his sons.
JEREMIAH 24:2-7
2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3 Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”
4 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans.
6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.
7 Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.
God even in His wrath had mercy on those carried to Babylon in that while they had been taken captive and deported over 700 miles away to Babylon, they would be spared the coming horrors that were about to descend upon Jerusalem, namely disease and starvation so great that cannibalism would run rampant in the city.
JEREMIAH 24:8-10
8 ‘And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the Lord—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.
9 I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.
10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”
God promises that king Zedekiah who Nebuchadnezzar set up as a vassal king after deporting Jehoiachin and the survivors of the first siege would be taken to Babylon. Note that He says that even those who had fled to Egypt would not escape. But that the sword of Nebuchadnezzar, disease and famine would follow them there until they were destroyed.
God prophesied through Ezekiel;
EZEKIEL 30:10-12
10 ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will also make a multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
11 He and his people with him, the most terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land; they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.
12 I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked; I will make the land waste, and all that is in it, by the hand of aliens. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
History shows that in 568 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar made a massive assault against Egypt and captured much of it, hauling away massive amounts of treasure.
JEREMIAH 25:1-7
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.
4 And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.
5 They said, ‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.
6 Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’
7 Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
As can be seen, the book of Jeremiah was not written in chronological order. The fourth year of Jehoiakim would have been 605 B.C. which means that Jeremiah had started his prophetic ministry in 628 B C., during the 28th year of king Josiah.
JEREMIAH 25:8-14
8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words,
9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 ‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.
13 So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.
14 (For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”
Throughout history God had many times stirred up conquering nations to punish the Jews for their wickedness. Note that He calls king Nebuchadnezzar “My servant” showing that the brutal king was carrying out His will in attacking Judah.
He also prophesies that Judah will remain captive in Babylon for 70 years, and after that Babylon will in turn be conquered which history shows happened in approximately 516 B.C.
The latest examples? After the Romans had destroyed Judea in 70 A.D. the Jews were scattered across Europe where they suffered massive persecutions by the Roman Catholic Church and medieval rulers. In Russia and Poland, frequent savage pogroms (persecutions) broke out against the Jews in accordance to the terrible curses spoken by Moses as Israel was about to enter the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).
The final outpouring of God’s wrath came during WW II when Nazi Germany performed its attempted genocide of the Jewish race, sponsoring the horrors of the Holocaust, Satan’s mockery and desecration of God’s burnt offerings.
History also shows that the nations that God used to destroy Israel were destroyed themselves as punishment. The mighty Middle-Eastern city-States of Babylon and Assyria are dusty, uninhabited ruins; Moab, Ammon, Edom, Philistia are footnotes in history; Rome, Iran, Syria and Egypt are now fractions of their former might.
The European nations that deported and persecuted the Jews during WWII suffered under the merciless jackboots of the Nazis, and Eastern Europe (including Russia) where some of the worst atrocities against the Jews occurred suffered first under the Nazis then fell under the savage iron rule of the Soviet Union.
JEREMIAH 25:15-29
15 For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: “Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.
16 And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17 Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me:
18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people;
20 all the mixed multitude, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);
21 Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon;
22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the sea;
23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners;
24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert;
25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;
26 all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
27 “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’
28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “You shall certainly drink!
29 For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’
God gives a list of nations scheduled for destruction at the hands of the Babylonians ranging from Media (Persia) in the north to Saudi Arabia in the south on the east side of the Jordan River. Then west of the Jordan from Samaria in the north to Egypt and Edom in the south.
Interestingly, Sheshach (Babylon) is listed also, but will be the last slated for destruction. Remember, God numerous times brought foreigners against His people to punish them for their wickedness, then He in turn would punish the foreign nation for their wickedness.
As He essentially said of Babylon in verse 29 above, “I am going to punish these nations for their wickedness, and should you escape?” And as history shows, Babylon later fell to the Persians.
JEREMIAH 25:30-38
30 “Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: ‘The Lord will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise will come to the ends of the earth— for the Lord has a controversy with the nations; He will plead His case with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the Lord.”
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, disaster shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the farthest parts of the earth.
33 And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.
34 “Wail, shepherds, and cry! Roll about in the ashes, you leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled; you shall fall like a precious vessel.
35 And the shepherds will have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a wailing of the leaders to the flock will be heard. For the Lord has plundered their pasture,
37 And the peaceful dwellings are cut down because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38 He has left His lair like the lion; for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of His fierce anger.”
God is warning the whole Middle East that destruction is coming and that there will be no escape when it comes. Remember, he warned the Jews that fleeing to Egypt would do them no good as the sword of Babylon, famine and disease would follow them even there.
JEREMIAH 26:1-6
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying,
2 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word.
3 Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.’
4 And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you,
5 to heed the words of My servants the prophets whom I sent to you, both rising up early and sending them (but you have not heeded),
6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”
Again, God gives Judah a chance to avoid the wrath and destruction to come if they repent and turn back to Him. For nearly 40 years He has begged Judah to turn from their wickedness, but they have refused.
JEREMIAH 26:7-15
7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.
8 Now it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die!
9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without an inhabitant’?” And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and sat down in the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.
11 And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and all the people, saying, “This man deserves to die! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people, saying: “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city with all the words that you have heard.
13 Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you.
14 As for me, here I am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and proper to you.
15 But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
True to form, Satan seeks to silence all opposition through intimidation or murder (or both). All evil-doers hate having their words and deeds exposed by the light of truth and will do everything in their power to destroy the truth.
Right after Israel had conquered Canaan, the Tabernacle had been set up in Shiloh in the land given to the tribe of Ephraim. But because of the wickedness of Israel, God brought the Philistines against Shiloh. It had been in ruins for over 300 years by the time Jeremiah referenced it.
Note that it was the priests and ‘prophets’ (prophets of Ba’al) who wanted to kill Jeremiah, when it should have been the priests who should have supported him. They couldn’t kill him themselves, so they sought to sway judicial authority to their side.
In ancient times princes, elders and judges sat in the gates of the city and heard judicial cases. That way the people could see justice being performed and listen to debates concerning issues at hand.
JEREMIAH 26:16-19
16 So the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve to die. For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”
17 Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying:
18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the Temple like the bare hills of the forest.” ’
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah ever put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and seek the Lord’s favor? And the Lord relented concerning the doom which He had pronounced against them. But we are doing great evil against ourselves.”
God had promised to defend Jeremiah, and He caused cooler heads to prevail, quoting the prophecy of Micah who said nearly 100 years earlier;
MICAH 3:9-12
9 Now hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity,
10 Who build up Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity:
11 Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, and say “Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us.”
12 Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest.
JEREMIAH 26:20-24
20 Now there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath Jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.
21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went to Egypt.
22 Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor, and other men who went with him to Egypt.
23 And they brought Urijah from Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.
24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
Urijah sought to “cash in” on the prophecies of Jeremiah, quoting Jeremiah’s words as if he, too, was a prophet of the Lord. The Lord would not allow it and caused him to be chased down and killed while sparing Jeremiah.
JEREMIAH 27:1-11
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 “Thus says the Lord to me: ‘Make for yourselves bonds and yokes, and put them on your neck,
3 and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
4 And command them to say to their masters, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel—thus you shall say to your masters:
5 ‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me.
6 And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.
7 So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them.
8 And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the Lord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
9 Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.”
10 For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish.
11 But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,’ says the Lord, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ”
God establishes His sovereignty over all the Earth and its inhabitants. He will make Nebuchadnezzar an unstoppable juggernaut of his wrath against the nations and prophesies that they will serve him into the reign of his grandson. He tells them that if they submit to Nebuchadnezzar they can remain in their lands; if they do not, they will be destroyed and be led away captive.
Nebuchadnezzar was relentless in his assaults, besieging Tyre in Lebanon for 13 years before it finally fell. He then swept through the entire Middle East on both sides of the Jordan River as far south as Edom and as far west as Egypt.
JEREMIAH 27:12-22
12 I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live!
13 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
14 Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you;
15 for I have not sent them,” says the Lord, “yet they prophesy a lie in My name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”
16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they prophesy a lie to you.
17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste?
18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.’
19 “For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, concerning the Sea, concerning the carts, and concerning the remainder of the vessels that remain in this city,
20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—
21 yes, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem:
22 ‘They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them,’ says the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’ ”
In 597 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem, captured king Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) and his household and carried them to Babylon. He also carried away some of the treasures and items of the Temple as plunder. By description, the bronze and iron implements and decorations were not taken probably due to their being of lesser value than gold or silver.
However, God promises that if they do not repent, Nebuchadnezzar will return and take everything away that is left. When Judah’s time of captivity is ended, He will bring back what was taken.
JEREMIAH 28:1-4
1 And it happened in the same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
2 “Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
3 Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.
4 And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon,’ says the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’ ”
Hananiah was another of the Ba’al worshiping false prophets that plagued Jerusalem, and would have made his ‘prophecy’ in about 593 B.C. Babylon was about 700 miles (1,126 km) from Jerusalem so Hananiah probably figured a 2-year travel period on foot to bring the items back.
JEREMIAH 28:5-11
5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the Lord,
6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! The Lord do so; the Lord perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the Lord’s house and all who were carried away captive, from Babylon to this place.
7 Nevertheless hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people:
8 The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms—of war and disaster and pestilence.
9 As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent.”
10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.
11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.’ ” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
Jeremiah was referring to God’s command through Moses concerning prophets;
DEUTERONOMY 18:20-22
20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’
21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’—
22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
JEREMIAH 28:12-17
12 Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
13 “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.”
14 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also.” ’ ”
15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie.
16 Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the Lord.’ ”
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
Hananiah died 2 months after making his ‘prophecy’.
JEREMIAH 29:1-9
1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2 (This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)
3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,
4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.
6 Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished.
7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.
8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.
God warns the Jews carried away to Babylon to not hope in or trust the false prophets who prophesy a short captivity. He had sent them to Babylon for their own good so that they would not suffer the coming horrors of the siege of Jerusalem.
He tells them to pray for the peace and prosperity of Babylon for its welfare is linked with their own.
JEREMIAH 29:10-14
10 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.
God offers hope for the future to the Jews in Babylon, and verses 11-13 apply to all those who believe in Him and keep His commandments. We would do well to remember them!!!
JEREMIAH 29:15-23
15 Because you have said, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon”—
16 therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brethren who have not gone out with you into captivity—
17 thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
18 And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,
19 because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the Lord.
20 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes.
22 And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire”;
23 because they have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I know, and am a witness, says the Lord.
The prophets spoken of who were raised up in Babylon were Ezekiel and Daniel who wrote the Bible books bearing their names. And Nebuchadnezzar was not averse to throwing people who displeased him, alive into furnaces. The prophet Daniel’s 3 friends were so treated, but miraculously survived to Nebuchadnezzar’s astonishment. (Daniel, chapter 3)
JEREMIAH 29:24-32
24 You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
25 Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
26 “The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be officers in the house of the Lord over every man who is demented and considers himself a prophet, that you should put him in prison and in the stocks.
27 Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself a prophet to you?
28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ”
29 Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
30 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:
31 Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I have not sent him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie—
32 therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family: he shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My people, says the Lord, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord.
God rebukes Shemaiah for his arrogance and usurpation of authority in assuming that he is authorized to arrest and confine in prison anyone prophesying in the name of the Lord, no one having conferred this authority upon him. God promises that he will die without having anyone to carry on his or his family’s name.
JEREMIAH 30:1-11
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 “Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you.
3 For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’ ”
4 Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah.
5 “For thus says the Lord: ‘We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale?
7 Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
8 ‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them.
9 But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10 ‘Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,’ says the Lord, ‘nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid.
11 For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.’
This was for Judah of Jeremiah’s time, a long-range prophecy in which God will gather all Jews back to the Land when Jesus Christ returns and will set up His Earthly kingdom with David ruling as king over Israel under His authority.
It was a long-range prophecy 2,500 years ago, but is a short-range prophecy in today’s times.
JEREMIAH 30:12-15
12 “For thus says the Lord: ‘Your affliction is incurable, your wound is severe.
13 There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up; you have no healing medicines.
14 All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you; for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased.
15 Why do you cry about your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable. Because of the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased I have done these things to you.
God explains why He is afflicting His people, hoping to get them to consider and repent. It is much like cancer; radical treatments are required (chemotherapy, radiation, surgery) in order to destroy the disease and while painful for the patient to experience, they can save the patient’s life.
JEREMIAH 30:16-17
16 ‘Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will make a prey.
17 For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord, ‘because they called you an outcast saying: “This is Zion; no one seeks her.” ’
Throughout history, every nation that has attacked and afflicted Israel is either long-destroyed, just a footnote in history, or is greatly reduced in size and beset by turmoil. Some examples;
Babylon, Assyria, Ammon, Moab, Edom, Amalek, Philistia are long-destroyed, dusty ruins.
Egypt, Jordan, Rome, Germany and Great Britain (who opposed the Jews returning to the Land after WW II) are greatly reduced in power.
Syria, Iran (Persia), Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Russia are either fighting internal brushfire wars and rebellions or are filled with unrest, while Iraq and Lebanon are Iranian puppets.
JEREMIAH 30:18-24
18 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; the city shall be built upon its own mound, and the palace shall remain according to its own plan.
19 Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
20 Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before Me; and I will punish all who oppress them.
21 Their nobles shall be from among them, and their governor shall come from their midst; then I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach Me; for who is this who pledged his heart to approach Me?’ says the Lord.
22 ‘You shall be My people, and I will be your God.’ ”
23 Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goes forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind; it will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the Lord will not return until He has done it, and until He has performed the intents of His heart; in the latter days you will consider it.
It is interesting that the Lord says that the city will be built “on it’s own mound”. In ancient times when cities were destroyed, the survivors rebuilt the city on the debris and rubble of the old one. Thus many cities stood on mounds made of dirt and rubble from previous ones.
What “latter days” was God referring to in verse 24? A clue is given in the famous prophecy concerning soon-coming WW III. Ezekiel prophesied that Russian-backed Arab armies will launch a massive attack Israel and God will personally destroy them, leaving Israel untouched.
(For further information please see the study on WW III in this site)
When it is over, God says;
EZEKIEL 39:21-29
21 “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.
23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.” ’
25 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name—
26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid.
27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations,
28 then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.
29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God.”
Thus it appears that the “latter days” God was referring to will be after WW III.
JEREMIAH 31:1-6
1 “At the same time,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”
2 Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when I went to give him rest.”
3 The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
4 Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.
5 You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and eat them as ordinary food.
6 For there shall be a day when the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim, ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.’ ”
God reminds Israel of His past love of them, and extends a promise of future restoration.
JEREMIAH 31:7-14
7 For thus says the Lord: “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O Lord, save Your people, the remnant of Israel!’
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and the one who labors with child, together; a great throng shall return there.
9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications, I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.
10 “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’
11 For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord— for wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all.
13 “Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together; for I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.
14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.”
God continues His promises of restoration to His people, seeking to comfort them in their despair. Note that God refers to Ephraim as His “first-born”. Ephraim was the collective name for the 10 northern tribes of Israel who rebelled against Solomon’s son Rehoboam in about 930 B.C. forming the Northern Kingdom of Israel (1 Kings, chapter 12); they were destroyed and deported to Assyria in 721 B.C. (2 Kings, chapter 17).
JEREMIAH 31:15-20
15 Thus says the Lord: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
16 Thus says the Lord: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17 There is hope in your future, says the Lord, that your children shall come back to their own border.
18 “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; restore me, and I will return, for You are the Lord my God.
19 Surely, after my turning, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’
20 Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.
It had been over 100 years since the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been destroyed by the Assyrians, yet God still speaks of their return to the Land.
JEREMIAH 31:21-22
21 “Set up signposts, make landmarks; set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to these your cities.
22 How long will you gad about, O you backsliding daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth—a woman shall encompass a man.”
Although history calls the 10 northern tribes “the lost tribes of Israel” Scripture shows that the people of the Northern Kingdom did indeed return to the Land. (For further information please see the study concerning the “10 lost tribes” in ths site.)
The meaning of the last part of verse 22 uncertain.
JEREMIAH 31:23-26
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “They shall again use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back their captivity: ‘The Lord bless you, O home of justice, and mountain of holiness!’
24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks.
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
26 After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me.
Note that God says that the returnees will return to Judah, The former Northern Kingdom territory was resettled by foreigners sent by Assyrian king Esarhaddon of Assyria after the Northern Kingdom was destroyed. The transplanted foreigners tried to join themselves to the Jews when they returned but were rejected. (Ezra, chapter 4),
Although dominated by Judah, the former northern kingdom territory remained a cosmopolitan area, not entirely Jewish like Judah. Even in New Testament times, the ‘foreigners’ were despised by the Jews of Judah and were called “Samaritans” named after Samaria, the former capital of the Northern Kingdom.
JEREMIAH 31:27-30
27 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.
28 And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.
29 In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
This expression referred to a warning that God gave to Israel at Mount Sinai concerning sins. God had said;
EXODUS 20:4-6
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
This was a sobering warning to parents that their children would learn the sins that they saw their parents performing and God would wind up punishing them also. Children then could justifiably become bitter if they felt they were suffering things like poverty for their parents’ sins.
BUT God’s warning of generational retribution was only to the sinful children of sinful parents! God told the prophet Ezekiel concerning a child of a sinful father;
EZEKIEL 18:14-17
14 “If, however, he begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done, and considers but does not do likewise;
15 Who has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor’s wife;
16 Has not oppressed anyone, nor withheld a pledge, nor robbed by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing;
17 Who has withdrawn his hand from the poor and not received usury or increase, but has executed My judgments and walked in My statutes— he shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live!
Note: ‘Eating on the mountains’ referred to eating pagan sacrifices on altars built on mountain tops (called ‘high places’).
Israel was forbidden to exact interest (called usury) from their brethren on loans or business transactions, nor were they to oppress the poor. They could however charge interest to foreigners. God had said;
LEVITICUS 25:35-38
35 ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.
36 Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.
37 You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit.
38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
JEREMIAH 31:31-34
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
The covenant that God made with Israel was codified in the Law of Moses, written on tablets of stone. God prophesies of a time where the Law of Moses would be superceded by a better, permanent covenant which would be written in the heart by God’s Spirit.
This new covenant was established by Jesus Christ and just as the Law was sealed with the blood of sinless animals, the New Covenant was sealed with the blood of a sinless Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
Is the Law dead? By no means. Certain laws have been fulfilled such as the laws of sacrifices. The Jews as a nation refused to believe or didn’t understand that Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice whose blood would not merely cover sins like animal sacrifices, but could remove them completely.
God waited for 40 years after Jesus’ death and when the unbelieving Jews continued the now-useless animal sacrifices, He destroyed the Temple and the priesthood as they were no longer required.
But the moral and social laws are still in effect. The Law was originally written for the Jews but with Jesus’ sacrifice for ALL sin, the way of salvation was opened for the Gentiles as well, requiring a new covenant outside of the Law to include them.
Rather than re-codify the Law under the new covenant, Jesus said the Law could be summed up under two commandments;
MATTHEW 22:35-40
35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
The issue of the conversion of the Gentiles and the Law came to head when the apostle Paul was describing the conversion of the Gentiles when returning from one of his missionary journeys. Scripture says;
ACTS 14:4-6
4 And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them.
5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.
This created much dissent and dispute, until the apostle Peter said;
ACTS 14:7-11
7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us,
9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
The New Testament was written so that the Gentiles would have a covenant outside of the Law of Moses which could bring salvation. The Jews are still required to follow the social and moral parts of the Law, and those laws, while not codified for the Gentiles in the New Testament, are summed up in the two commandments set down by Jesus, namely;
1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
2. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
James, Jesus’ physical brother settled the issue when he wrote to the Gentile believers;
ACTS 15:24-30
24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment—
25 it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth.
28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:
29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.
The Jews need to understand that the Law of Moses did not contain any provisions for salvation. The animal sacrifices could only cover sin, they could not remove them.
As king David wrote;
PSALM 85:2
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin.
Adherence to the Law put the Jews under obedience which God counted as righteousness, but they were still sinners because the animal sacrifices only covered their sins, it did not remove them. That’s why in the Old Testament people spoke of going to “the Pit” after death, as they were not yet worthy to enter Heaven. As king David said;
PSALM 30:3
3 O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
When Jesus was resurrected, the sins were removed and the righteous dead were worthy of entering heaven. And when Jesus ascended back into Heaven, he took the righteous dead with Him.
Bottom line: the Jews are still bound by the social and moral codes written in the Law. But the laws of sacrifice have been fulfilled and are no longer needed. They need to read and understand the New Testament to understand salvation through their Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The Law of Moses was a Law of works, with God essentially saying, “Do this, and you will live.” But as the Law had no provision for salvation, their obedience to the Law was counted as righteousness. And even though they were righteous under the Law, their sins, while covered, still remained. Therefore after death, they went to “the Pit” to await their salvation.
Then in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ created a new covenant, a spiritual covenant that opened the door to salvation for all men, a Law that would remove sin which the Law of Moses could never do.
Fleshly works cannot save a person, as to be justified under the Law a person would need to follow all 613 commandments without fail all the days of their life, something Man can never do.
That being the case, the new covenant provides that a person can be justified and saved by faith in Jesus and obedience to His commandments, apart from imperfect works under the Law.
There is good information for our Jewish brethren concerning the Torah and the New Testament at this site;
https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/new-testament-bad-for-us-the-jews/
JEREMIAH 31:35-40
35 Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name):
36 “If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.”
37 Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord.
38 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
39 The surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath.
40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.”
Here God plainly states that He will never totally abandon Israel no matter how bad they’ve been.
Some believe that after the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel were destroyed in 721 B.C. by the Assyrians, the survivors (descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh in particular) migrated to America.
There is no physical or verified historical proof of this, although there is ample proof that remnants of the tribes of the Northern Kingdom returned to Judah after the Babylonian captivity and the rest settled in ancient Babylon, Assyria and Media / Persia.
(For more information please see the study in this Web site on the fate of the 10 “Lost Tribes”)
The “valley of the dead bodies and ashes” could very well be the Tophet Valley where God said the Babylonians would bury the dead Jews who died during the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.
As God had told Jeremiah;
JEREMIAH 7:32-34
32 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room.
33 The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away.
34 Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.
JEREMIAH 32:1-5
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
2 For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house.
3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face, and see him eye to eye;
5 then he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him,” says the Lord; “though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed” ’?”
Nebuchadnezzar II came to power in 605 B.C. so the 18th year of his reign would have been about 587 B.C. King Zedekiah’s behavior is odd, seeing that Jeremiah had been prophesying for 39 years that the Babylonians would attack and destroy the city.
All of the “prophets” of Ba’al had prophesied peace, yet 10 years earlier king Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Jerusalem and carried king Jehoiachin (Jeconiah), his family and all of the skilled craftsmen and nobles into captivity as had been prophesied by Jeremiah.
Yet king Zedekiah sought to punish the messenger who brought bad news rather than consider that Jeremiah had been 100% correct in his prophecies to that point.
JEREMIAH 32:6-9
6 And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
7 ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.” ’
8 Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
9 So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and weighed out to him the money—seventeen shekels of silver.
In ancient Israel when someone owned a piece of property and wished to sell it, it was to be sold to a relative or to someone within the tribe so that assigned lots would remain within the tribe. God had commanded Moses;
NUMBERS 36:7-9
7 So the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not change hands from tribe to tribe, for every one of the children of Israel shall keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
8 And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be the wife of one of the family of her father’s tribe, so that the children of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers.
9 Thus no inheritance shall change hands from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel shall keep its own inheritance.”
A good example of this is found in the book of Ruth. An Israelite woman named Naomi was married to a husband and they had 2 sons together as well as property in Canaan. The sons in turn had married and owned property as well.
In time, Naomi’s husband and sons died, leaving her a widow with two widowed daughters-in-law. One of the daughters-in-law returned to her home country (Moab) while the other, named Ruth stayed with Naomi.
Widows without relatives to take care of them were destitute, so when a rich landowner named Boaz fell in love with Ruth, he was found to be close kin to Naomi. He wanted to marry Ruth and buy their properties so that Naomi could live comfortably for the rest of her life, and her property could remain in the family. Ruth would have a husband and both she and Boaz would benefit from possession of Ruth’s property.
In ancient times money was weighed to determine its value as greedy people would ‘trim’ metal from the edges of coins making the value of the coin less than its designated value. (That’s why ancient coins sometimes appear irregular in shape).
Also, dishonest coin minters would sometimes mix other metals into the gold or silver making the coin an alloy rather than a pure metal while trying to peddle the adulterated coin as if it was pure gold or silver. Weighing the coin against known standards would quickly show the difference.
In Jeremiah’s case, a piece of property was to be sold and Jeremiah was the closest relative in line who could purchase the property. By this also, Jeremiah knew that the Lord’s promise to bring Judah back to the Land was assured.
JEREMIAH 32:10-15
10 And I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales.
11 So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open;
12 and I gave the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.
13 “Then I charged Baruch before them, saying,
14 ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.”
15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.” ’
In a fascinating verification of Bible accuracy, in 1975 a clay seal (called a “bulla”) with the name “Baruch, son of Neriah” was found in ancient ruins in Jerusalem. A bulla was used to stamp a seal in wet clay or wax on a document showing the originator of the document. Bullas belonging to Biblical figures queen Jezebel, king Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah have also been found.
JEREMIAH 32:16-25
16 “Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying:
17 ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
18 You show lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the Great, the Mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
19 You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.
20 You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this day, and in Israel and among other men; and You have made Yourself a name, as it is this day.
21 You have brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror;
22 You have given them this land, of which You swore to their fathers to give them—“a land flowing with milk and honey.”
23 And they came in and took possession of it, but they have not obeyed Your voice or walked in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this calamity to come upon them.
24 ‘Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword and famine and pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it!
25 And You have said to me, O Lord God, “Buy the field for money, and take witnesses”!—yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”
Jeremiah recounts God’s works and promises, and the failure of Judah to follow His commandments. Even now the Babylonians have surrounded the walls with barriers to entrap the inhabitants, yet God has promised restoration. Jeremiah then seeks reassurance and understanding of God’s intent for the nation.
JEREMIAH 32:26-35
26 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?
28 Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it.
29 And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and set fire to this city and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger;
30 because the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have provoked Me only to anger with the work of their hands,’ says the Lord.
31 ‘For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; so I will remove it from before My face
32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33 And they have turned to Me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.
34 But they set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.
35 And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.’
Fire is God’s cleanser, and He plans on cleansing Jerusalem of the sins and abominations that have been committed within it. Burning the city will not only cleanse the city, it will remove Satan’s legal right to remain in the city as items and structures dedicated to him (as Ba’al) will be destroyed.
JEREMIAH 32:36-44
36 “Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:
37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.
38 They shall be My people, and I will be their God;
39 then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.
40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.
41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’
42 “For thus says the Lord: ‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.
43 And fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”
44 Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captives to return,’ says the Lord.”
While the Jews returned to Jerusalem in about 516 B.C. after the 70-year captivity was complete, many Jews still remained in Babylon and lands east. And after Rome conquered Judea in 70 A.D. again the Jews were cast out of the Land and were sold throughout the Roman Empire.
In 1948 the Jews returned to the Land and re-established the State of Israel, yet even today many Jews are still scattered throughout the world, remaining a distinct people despite their attempts to assimilate into other cultures.
In verse 37 God says that He will re-gather the Jews from everywhere they have been scattered and will bring them back to the Land. And just as the rampant anti-Semitism and massacres of the Jews in Europe during WW II forced the Jews to return to the Land in 1948, the rising anti-Semitism world-wide today is forcing Jews to return to Israel in unprecedented numbers.
And even today, Israel is gathered in the Land in unbelief, relying more on military might and the protection of the United States, rather than God. And as yet the Lord has not established an everlasting covenant with Israel as He promised in verse 40.
When will this happen? A possible clue can be found in the book of Ezekiel. According to the prophecies of Ezekiel, when WW III breaks out it will be started by a massive attack against Israel by Arab armies backed by Russian troops.
The United States will be drawn in and a devastating nuclear exchange will destroy both the United States and Russia, leaving tiny Israel to face the Arabs alone.
However God promises to personally totally destroy the Arab army before they reach Israel with heavy rains, hail, fire and brimstone and a massive earthquake. The result? God stated;
EZEKIEL 39:21-29
21 “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.
23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.” ’
25 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name—
26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid.
27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations,
28 then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.
29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God.”
The description in verse 28 above fits in with God’s promise in Jeremiah 32:37 to bring the Jews back to the Land. As He said;
JEREMIAH 32:37
37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.
(For more information concerning Ezekiel’s prophecy, please see the study on WW III in this site.)
JEREMIAH 33:1-13
1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
2 “Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His name):
3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
4 “For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword:
5 ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city.
6 Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.
7 And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first.
8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.
9 Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.’
10 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place—of which you say, “It is desolate, without man and without beast”—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast,
11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say: “Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever”— and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord.
12 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of him who counts them,’ says the Lord.
Again the Lord reassures Jeremiah that He will continue to pour His fury out on Jerusalem and Judah until His wrath is spent and He has destroyed the wicked out of it and removed the rest of the populace to Babylon.
But even so, He will remember mercy and goodness and will restore Judah back in the Land after they have borne their punishment and have acknowledged their sins.
And note that the Lord considers sincere praise to be as valued and honorable as sacrifices in His eyes.
JEREMIAH 33:14-18
14 ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:
15 ‘In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’
17 “For thus says the Lord: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;
18 nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.’ ”
This refers to the coming rule of Jesus Christ, when He returns the second time, this time to rule in glory and power. It cannot refer to His first appearance, as Jerusalem was under the brutal boot heel of Rome at that time and was destroyed 40 years later by the Romans.
While there is no throne or king in present-day Israel, Jesus will be enthroned there at His return. And with Jesus being eternal as well as a descendant of David, truly David will always have a man to sit on the throne of Israel.
I can only speculate concerning verse 18. God destroyed both the Temple and the priesthood in 70 A.D. as the unbelieving Jews continued to offer animal sacrifices for sin despite Jesus having fulfilled the laws of sacrifice with His atoning death.
Yet God speaks of seemingly raising up sons of Aaron to be priests and sons of the tribe of Levi to offer sacrifices again. I can only speculate that the sacrifices will be commemorative, as Jesus paid for all sin and destroyed sin at the cross.
Thus the sacrifices may be symbolic, in celebration and remembrance of His atoning death.
JEREMIAH 33:19-26
19 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
20 “Thus says the Lord: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season,
21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers.
22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’ ”
23 Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
24 “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has also cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.
25 “Thus says the Lord: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth,
26 then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’ ”
There has long been a poisonous doctrine taught that with the destruction of Judea in 70 A.D. and the conversion of the Gentiles, that the Gentiles have replaced Israel as God’s Chosen People.
The verses above definitively disprove this false claim and shows that God will NEVER replace Israel with another people.
JEREMIAH 34:1-7
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying,
2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
3 And you shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand; your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, he shall speak with you face to face, and you shall go to Babylon.’ ” ’
4 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the Lord concerning you: ‘You shall not die by the sword.
5 You shall die in peace; as in the ceremonies of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they shall burn incense for you and lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!” For I have pronounced the word, says the Lord.’ ”
6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
7 when the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah; for only these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.
The Lord is willing to yet show mercy to king Zedekiah despite his sins and assures him that even though he would be taken to Babylon, he would die in peace and honor.
Azekah and Lachish were important fortified cities and had been frequently attacked and destroyed by the Assyrians. Long-range communication back then consisted of watchfires burned atop tall towers. If neighboring cities saw the fires they knew that the city lighting the fire was being besieged and that attacks would soon come.
In ancient times, pottery shards (called potsherds or ostraca) were used as ‘note-pads’ with messages usually written in charcoal.
In 1937 several ostraca were found in the burned ruins of a guard-house in ancient Lachish which said, “I can no longer see the signal fires from Azekah”, meaning that Azekah had already fallen to the Babylonians and that only Lachish and Jerusalem were left of the cities of Judah.
The ostraca have been dated to the time of Jeremiah, verifying his words in verse 7 above.
JEREMIAH 34:8-22
8 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them:
9 that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage.
10 Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should set free his male and female slaves, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and let them go.
11 But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves.
12 Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
13 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,
14 “At the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.” But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear.
15 Then you recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name.
16 Then you turned around and profaned My name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.’
17 “Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the Lord—‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth.
18 And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it—
19 the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf—
20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth.
21 And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army which has gone back from you.
22 Behold, I will command,’ says the Lord, ‘and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’ ”
God is furious with Zedekiah and the people for making a sworn covenant with Him, then breaking it. Never swear or make a promise to God that you cannot or are not willing to keep! As king Solomon wrote;
ECCLESIASTES 4:4-5
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed—
5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
Passing between the two halves of a butchered calf may be related to a dream of a covenant given by God to Abraham. God had commanded;
GENESIS 15:9-21
9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.
11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.
13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.
18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—
19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
God vacates His promise to Zedekiah and promises destruction to both him and the people in His fury at their profaning His name and mocking the covenant they made with Him. He is finished with their treachery and is about to put an end to it.
Apparently the Babylonian army had briefly withdrawn from Jerusalem, more than likely to accelerate the destruction of Azekah and Lachish, the last two fortified cities left besides Jerusalem. That way Nebuchadnezzar could muster his full might against Jerusalem and finish it.
JEREMIAH 35:1-11
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
2 “Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”
3 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites,
4 and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door.
5 Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine.”
6 But they said, “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever.
7 You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners.’
8 Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,
9 nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; nor do we have vineyard, field, or seed.
10 But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
11 But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, ‘Come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians.’ So we dwell at Jerusalem.”
For some reason, Jonadab commanded that his descendants live a simple, nomadic lifestyle as herdsmen and shepherds, possibly to avoid city-based problems such as greed, politics, idolatry, etc. depending strictly on the Lord for sustenance.
He also commanded that they drink no wine so as to avoid drunkenness and the associated misbehavior brought on by excessive drinking.
They had been obedient to Jonadab’s command and had only come into Jerusalem to avoid the Babylonians. Note also that the Syrians had allied themselves with the Babylonians, having already been conquered by Nebuchadnezzar and absorbed into his empire.
JEREMIAH 35:12-19
12 Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying,
13 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not receive instruction to obey My words?” says the Lord.
14 “The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, and obey their father’s commandment. But although I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, you did not obey Me.
15 I have also sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way, amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them; then you will dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me.
16 Surely the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed Me.” ’
17 “Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the doom that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them but they have not heard, and I have called to them but they have not answered.’ ”
18 And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you,
19 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever.” ’ ”
God holds up the family of the Rechabites as an example of obedience in which they have obeyed the commandment of their father Rechab, but Judah has not listened to or obeyed Him.
God promises that for their obedience Jonadab, the son of Rechab will always have a man to continue the family line throughout all their generations. Many families of Judah however will be completely destroyed and no descendants will be left because of their disobedience.
JEREMIAH 36:1-8
1 Now it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:
2 “Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day.
3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him.
5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the Lord.
6 You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the Lord’s house on the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities.
7 It may be that they will present their supplication before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people.”
8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.
Something that needs to be understood here. Baruch was a scribe, an educated man who could read and write. Many of the common people in ancient times and in cases even the nobility were illiterate (unable to read or write) and they depended on scribes to read and write documents, records and transactions for them.
Jeremiah was basically illiterate, relying on Baruch to write documents for him. Yet this did not hinder God from shaking Judah and the world with His words. Baruch had to hand-copy all of Jeremiah’s words which would have been a monumental undertaking indeed!
The 4th year of king Jehoiakim would have been around 605 B.C.
JEREMIAH 36:9-19
9 Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
10 Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, in the hearing of all the people.
11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the book,
12 he then went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and there all the princes were sitting—Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
13 Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people.
14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them.
15 And they said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.
16 Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.”
17 And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words—at his instruction?”
18 So Baruch answered them, “He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
19 Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are.”
Note that in verse 13 Michaiah repeated all of what he had heard. Illiterate people usually have very good memories and are good listeners. Michaiah may have been in this category. And note also in verse 15 that they command Baruch to read what he had written rather than read it themselves, possibly indicating that they could not read.
JEREMIAH 36:20-26
20 And they went to the king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the hearing of the king.
21 So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king.
22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him.
23 And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.
24 Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words.
25 Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them.
26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.
The princes of Judah were frightened of Jeremiah’s words and respected him as a prophet of the Lord, but the king in his arrogance didn’t want to listen or obey.
Scribes carried utility knives for cutting scrolls which were usually made of papyrus (paper made from crushed reeds) or vellum (leather). Papyrus came in long sheets so when the scribe finished writing a document he would cut off any excess paper left over.
Kings of Judah usually had two houses, one for winter, one for summer. The “winter” house was usually in the Jerusalem or Jericho area where it was warmer, whereas the summer palace was in the north by the coastal city of Caesarea where the cool winds from the Mediterranean Sea blew onshore.
JEREMIAH 36:27-32
27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch had written at the instruction of Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:
28 “Take yet another scroll, and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.
29 And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘Thus says the Lord: “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to cease from here?’ ”
30 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.
31 I will punish him, his family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have pronounced against them; but they did not heed.” ’ ”
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words.
Poor Baruch! After the monumental effort of hand-writing all of the words of Jeremiah and having his efforts burned, he must re-write the words and others besides them!
Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recorded that Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar killed Jehoiakim and ordered that his dead body be thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem without burial, as Jeremiah prophesied.
JEREMIAH 37:1-10
1 Now King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
2 But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.
3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Pray now to the Lord our God for us.”
4 Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.
5 Then Pharaoh’s army came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
7 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Thus you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land.
8 And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.” ’
9 Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,” for they will not depart.
10 For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.’ ”
Zedekiah showed his hypocrisy in asking Jeremiah to pray to God for deliverance while continuing to practice his evil ways.
Pharaoh Hophra (also called Apries) came to Judah’s aid causing the Babylonians to briefly withdraw, but they quickly returned to Egypt after a minor skirmish as God promised and the Babylonians returned to finish the siege.
JEREMIAH 37:11-21
11 And it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army,
12 that Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people.
13 And when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!”
14 Then Jeremiah said, “False! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.” But he did not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.
15 Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison.
16 When Jeremiah entered the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,
17 then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?”
And Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, “You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!”
18 Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What offense have I committed against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
19 Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’?
20 Therefore please hear now, O my lord the king. Please, let my petition be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah to the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
Either Zedekiah didn’t know that Jeremiah had been imprisoned by the princes or he was losing control of the nobility. I strongly suspect that he was losing control as he secretly freed Jeremiah to question him privately.
The city was on strict food-rationing because of the siege but God ensured that Jeremiah received a daily ration of bread until the food was gone.
JEREMIAH 38:1-6
1 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying,
2 “Thus says the Lord: ‘He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.’
3 Thus says the Lord: ‘This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’ ”
4 Therefore the princes said to the king, “Please, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm.”
5 Then Zedekiah the king said, “Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you.”
6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.
This definitely shows that the king was weak and was losing control of his princes. And by the sounds of it, an empty water cistern, (a cavern carved out of solid rock) normally used for storing rainwater during the dry summer season was being used as a temporary dungeon.
The mountain on which Jerusalem sits is composed of porous limestone and cisterns needed to be plastered to keep stored water from leaking through the porous walls. However sediment brought by rain runoff and ageing of the plaster would form a layer of mud and muck at the bottom.
JEREMIAH 38:7-13
7 Now Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,
8 Ebed-Melech went out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying:
9 “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is no more bread in the city.”
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.”
11 So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
12 Then Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so.
13 So they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
Ebed-Melech took a great risk asking the king to free Jeremiah. With the spectre of famine looming in the city occupying the king’s mind it would easy to forget that Jeremiah was in the dungeon. But God had promised that while the people would fight against Jeremiah, they would not prevail.
God had said;
JEREMIAH 1:17-19
17 “Therefore prepare yourself and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them.
18 For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land— against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.
19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.”
The rags were used to protect Jeremiah’s armpits against the tremendous suction the mire would exert on his body as they pulled him up.
JEREMIAH 38:14-23
14 Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”
15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”
16 So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the Lord lives, who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”
17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.
18 But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.’ ”
19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me.”
20 But Jeremiah said, “They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the Lord which I speak to you. So it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.
21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me:
22 ‘Now behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say: “Your close friends have set upon you and prevailed against you; your feet have sunk in the mire, and they have turned away again.”
23 ‘So they shall surrender all your wives and children to the Chaldeans. You shall not escape from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.’ ”
Speaking through Jeremiah, God gives Zedekiah a simple, but heavy choice. Surrender and both he and the city will be spared, or resist and watch the city be burned with fire and be mocked by the women of his household as they all, including himself and his children, are carried as captives to Babylon.
If the king surrendered, Nebuchadnezzar would spare the city, install a puppet ruler and take the king to Babylon more than likely to be a court advisor to the Babylonians.
JEREMIAH 38:24-28
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die.
25 But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’
26 then you shall say to them, ‘I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”
27 Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been heard.
28 Now Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.
Jeremiah actually told the truth to the princes, as he had previously petitioned the king to be taken out of the prison. He just didn’t tell them the entire conversation.
It was mentioned earlier that the clay seal (called a ‘bulla’) of Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe had been found in Jerusalem. The seal was found in burned ruins dating back to the Babylonian sack of the city and it is speculated that the ruins may be the remnants of Jeremiah’s courtyard prison.
JEREMIAH 39:1-3
1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.
2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was penetrated.
3 Then all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sarezer, Rabmag, with the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.
Jerusalem finally fell in March / April of 586 B. C. after a roughly 18 month siege.
Nergal-Sharezer - Son-in-law to king Nebuchadnezzar
Samgar-Nebo - Officer in the Babylonian army
Sarsechim - Babylonian prince
Rabsaris - Officer in the Babylonian court, function unknown
Nergal-Sarezer - Babylonian prince, not to be confused with Nergal-Sharezer above
Rabmag - Babylonian prince
JEREMIAH 39:4-10
4 So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the plain.
5 But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him.
6 Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah.
7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon.
8 And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
9 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city and those who defected to him, with the rest of the people who remained.
10 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah the poor people, who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
Zedekiah had chosen to resist to the end and was captured as prophesied. Jerusalem, like other ancient cities had 2 protective walls. The gates in the walls were offset by many feet so that if attackers battered through the outer gate they couldn’t use a battering ram to break straight through the inner gate.
Offsetting the gates also ensured that if an enemy broke through the first gate, they would be trapped between walls as they tried to break through the second gate. And while trapped, archers would shoot at enemy troops through slots cut in the inner walls.
Nebuchadnezzar killed Zedekiah’s sons and nobles before blinding him so that the sight of the slaughter of his sons and court officials would be the last thing he would ever see. By this, Nebuchadnezzar also ensured that there would not be any future claimants or contenders for David’s throne.
The Babylonians then burned the city and Temple, threw down the walls and took the surviving captives on the long 750 mile trip to Babylon. They left the poor and unskilled people to cultivate the land so the land could produce food as part of the tribute to Babylon.
The city was capable of being burned as many buildings were built from bricks made of clay mixed with straw. They also had timbers of wood for structural support.
When Joshua and Israel burned the Canaanite fortified city of Hazor (Joshua, chapter 11) they set the city afire, and it has been reported that the fire was so hot that some of the bricks melted and flowed like lava in the streets.
Oddly enough, burned cities have provided much information concerning ancient lifestyles and events. In Middle-Eastern cities such as Babylon, Nineveh (Assyria), Uruk, Ebla, Mari, Sumer, Ur and others, records were written on soft clay tablets which were then dried and stored for safekeeping.
These tablets were fragile and easily subject to effacing or destruction. Yet when cities were burned the tablets were heat-hardened to the consistency of stone thus preserving the writing on them for thousands of years.
JEREMIAH 39:11-18
11 Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,
12 “Take him and look after him, and do him no harm; but do to him just as he says to you.”
13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s chief officers;
14 then they sent someone to take Jeremiah from the court of the prison, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.
15 Meanwhile the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
16 “Go and speak to Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring My words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you.
17 But I will deliver you in that day,” says the Lord, “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.
18 For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me,” says the Lord.’ ”
It was mentioned earlier that the bulla (clay seal) of Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe was found in the burned ruins of Jerusalem, dated back to the destruction of the city by the Babylonians. Archaeologists have speculated that these ruins may very well be the remnants of Jeremiah’s prison.
God remembered Ebed-Melech who risked his life to rescue Jeremiah from the cistern and rewarded him by telling him that his life would be preserved from the destruction of the city and its people.
Nebuchadnezzar’s kindness toward Jeremiah is at odds with his known brutal behavior as mercy was not one of his strong suits. This shows God’s hand in protecting the prophet in reward for his obedience over the 40 years of his prophetic ministry.
JEREMIAH 40:1-6
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon.
2 And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him: “The Lord your God has pronounced this doom on this place.
3 Now the Lord has brought it, and has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the Lord, and not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you.
4 And now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, all the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.”
5 Now while Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuzaradan said, “Go back to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems convenient for you to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go.
6 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land.
It is fascinating that God spoke through Babylonian captain Nebuzaradan concerning the destruction of the city because of its disobedience. It is unknown if Nebuzaradan knew of the prophecies of Jeremiah, but I think he may have heard of them from defectors who had surrendered earlier.
Jeremiah, given the choice, chose to remain in what was left of Jerusalem. And it was during this time that he wrote the sorrowful and bitter book of Lamentations, speaking of the horrors of the siege. God had already raised prophets to Judah in Babylon, (Ezekiel was one) so Jeremiah remained with the remnants of Judah to minister to them.
JEREMIAH 40:7-16
7 And when all the captains of the armies who were in the fields, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and the poorest of the land who had not been carried away captive to Babylon,
8 then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
9 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
10 As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.”
11 Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,
12 then all the Jews returned out of all places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance.
13 Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields came to Gedaliah at Mizpah,
14 and said to him, “Do you certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to murder you?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.
15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go, please, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?”
16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael.”
The Ammonites had long been enemies of Israel and Judah and many battles had been fought between them. The Ammonites were now vassals to Babylon but king Baalis either had intentions of encroaching on Judah or took advantage of Judah’s weakness to avenge past problems.
JEREMIAH 41:1-3
1 Now it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family and of the officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. And there they ate bread together in Mizpah.
2 Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.
3 Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is, with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.
In the previous chapter we saw that Ishmael had been hired by king Baalis of Ammon to kill Gedaliah whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed as provisional governor of Judah. The fact that Ishmael was a lesser part of the royal family may indicate his motives for assassinating Gedaliah, possibly having been promised to be made king of Judah by Baalis.
It could also be because of his being offended at not having been selected by Nebuchadnezzar to rule Judah, seeing as he had been part of the royal family and treacherously decided to set himself up as a local warlord.
In any case, Ishmael treacherously slaughtered innocent countrymen in cold blood as well as the Babylonian caretakers left behind to administer Judah’s affairs on behalf of Babylon.
Archaeologists have found a royal seal belonging to Ammonite king Baalis, dated to about 600 B.C. well within the timeframe of Jeremiah’s ministry. A clay inscription from an Ammonite high official has also been found which says, “Milqom, servant of Ba'alis”.
JEREMIAH 41:4-10
4 And it happened, on the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, when as yet no one knew it,
5 that certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the Lord.
6 Now Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went along; and it happened as he met them that he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!”
7 So it was, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them and cast them into the midst of a pit, he and the men who were with him.
8 But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have treasures of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field.” So he desisted and did not kill them among their brethren.
9 Now the pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain, because of Gedaliah, was the same one Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.
10 Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive and departed to go over to the Ammonites.
Ishmael continues his murder spree, cold-bloodedly slaughtering men from the territory of the former Northern Kingdom of Israel who had come in repentance to offer incense and gifts to the Lord.
He killed them and threw their dead bodies into the empty water cistern that Asa, king of Judah had dug when fearing an attack from king Baasha of the former Northern Kingdom of Israel.
(I Kings, chapter 15)
He then gathered all of the distant relatives of the royal family left in Judah and everyone else who knew what he had done and prepared to deliver them captive to king Baalis, more than likely to remove any claimants to the throne of Judah other than himself and perhaps present them as “gifts” to Baalis.
JEREMIAH 41:11-18
11 But when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,
12 they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah; and they found him by the great pool that is in Gibeon.
13 So it was, when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, that they were glad.
14 Then all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.
15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.
16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah after he had murdered Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—the mighty men of war and the women and the children and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon.
17 And they departed and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, as they went on their way to Egypt,
18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had murdered Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor in the land.
When faced with angry, experienced fighters Ishmael in cowardly fashion abandoned his captives and most of his own men and fled to Ammon. However rather than trust in God the people decided to flee to Egypt for fear of retaliation from Babylon, not remembering God’s admonition to their rulers of;
DEUTERONOMY 17:14-16
14 “When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’
15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
16 But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’
God had commanded that they never go back to Egypt, but they decided to go anyway.
JEREMIAH 42:1-6
1 Now all the captains of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near
2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the Lord your God, for all this remnant (since we are left but a few of many, as you can see),
3 that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.”
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and it shall be, that whatever the Lord answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.”
5 So they said to Jeremiah, “Let the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the Lord your God sends us by you.
6 Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
The frightened people want Jeremiah to intercede with God and promised to follow whatever God tells them to do. They also bind themselves before God to obey His commandments. King Solomon had previously warned;
ECCLESIASTES 5:4-5
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed—
5 better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
JEREMIAH 42:7-22
7 And it happened after ten days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
8 Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him:
10 ‘If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you.
11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ‘for I am with you, to save you and deliver you from his hand.
12 And I will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.’
13 “But if you say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God,
14 saying, ‘No, but we will go to the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell’—
15 Then hear now the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there,
16 then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die.
17 So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. And none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.’
18 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As My anger and My fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.’
19 “The Lord has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have admonished you this day.
20 For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that the Lord your God says, so declare to us and we will do it.’
21 And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, or anything which He has sent you by me.
22 Now therefore, know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to dwell.”
God rebukes the people for their hypocrisy, for while they promised to obey Him with their mouths, in their hearts they had set themselves to go to Egypt anyway, further infuriating the Lord. He then promises that if they go to Egypt, they will die from the sword, famine and disease from which they escaped while in the city.
JEREMIAH 43:1-7
1 Now it happened, when Jeremiah had stopped speaking to all the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, all these words,
2 that Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, “You speak falsely! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to dwell there.’
3 But Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death or carry us away captive to Babylon.”
4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces, and all the people would not obey the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Judah.
5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah, from all nations where they had been driven—
6 men, women, children, the king’s daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah.
7 So they went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they went as far as Tahpanhes.
God had correctly foretold of the hypocrisy of the people, who chose to disobey Him despite their oath to follow His commandments. What is puzzling is their accusing Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe, of wanting them to be killed by Nebuchadnezzar.
And whether out of anger or sheer spite they also took Jeremiah and Baruch to Egypt with them.
JEREMIAH 43:8-13
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
9 “Take large stones in your hand, and hide them in the sight of the men of Judah, in the clay in the brick courtyard which is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes;
10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread his royal pavilion over them.
11 When he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt and deliver to death those appointed for death, and to captivity those appointed for captivity, and to the sword those appointed for the sword.
12 I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment, and he shall go out from there in peace.
13 He shall also break the sacred pillars of Beth Shemesh that are in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians he shall burn with fire.” ’ ”
King Nebuchadnezzar had besieged the Phoenician city of Tyre for 13 years (586 - 573 B.C.) before it finally fell. However, Tyre was actually a unique “dual city” with part on the mainland coast of Lebanon and part on an island about a mile offshore.
When the Babylonians attacked, the Phoenicians moved their treasures offshore to the island so that when mainland Tyre fell, there wasn’t much treasure for the Babylonians to plunder (Babylon had no ships). As a result, God had told the prophet Ezekiel;
EZEKIEL 29:17-20
17 And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw; yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre, for the labor which they expended on it.
19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he shall take away her wealth, carry off her spoil, and remove her pillage; and that will be the wages for his army.
20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor, because they worked for Me,’ says the Lord God.
In 568 B.C., 18 years after the fall of Jerusalem and 5 years after the fall of Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar swept into Egypt as God had promised. While he did not totally conquer all of Egypt, he destroyed much of it, drove Pharaoh Hophra into the desert and departed with much treasure, leaving Egypt devastated for 40 years. He also destroyed their idols and broke down the sacred pillars dedicated to the Canaanite goddess Asherah.
JEREMIAH 44:1-10
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,
2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them,
3 because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers.
4 However I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!”
5 But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods.
6 So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.’
7 “Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain,
8 in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
9 Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10 They have not been humbled, to this day, nor have they feared; they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and your fathers.’
God presents His case against the remnant of Judah who have fled to Egypt despite His warnings to not go there. He wonders at their continued wickedness despite their being witness to His fury against Jerusalem and its inhabitants.
JEREMIAH 44:11-14
11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for cutting off all Judah.
12 And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach!
13 For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence,
14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return and dwell. For none shall return except those who escape.’ ”
God has had enough of their willful disobedience to Him and His statutes. He showed mercy even in the midst of His wrath and fury, and the people even after pledging to follow His commands still cling to their evil ways, defying Him to His face.
He promises that they will all die from the same disasters that befell the inhabitants in Judah during the siege of Jerusalem. However He will allow a few to escape (I suspect Baruch and a few others) to return to Judah to bear witness of His promises.
While their behavior may seem incomprehensible, are we any different today? Here in the United States we have collectively thrown God out of our politics, courts, schools, governments and lives. Radical Leftist politicians and activists are diligently trying to overthrow our elected government and replace it with a Socialist / Communist dictatorship.
Autocratic Democrat Socialist governors and mayors are assuming dictatorial powers far beyond what the law allows them to have. Taking advantage of the Corona virus hysteria they are forbidding churches from holding services using the excuse that social gatherings help spread the virus. Yet big-box retailers, abortion clinics, Muslim mosques and other such places have few if any such restrictions.
Bear in mind that when God is cast out, Satan immediately moves in to fill the spiritual vacuum.
JEREMIAH 44:15-23
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying:
16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you!
17 But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble.
18 But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”
19 The women also said, “And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ permission?”
20 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer—saying:
21 “The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and did it not come into His mind?
22 So the Lord could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day.
23 Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day.”
The open defiance, arrogance and audacity of the womens’ response to Jeremiah is jaw-dropping at the very least! They not only implicate themselves, but their husbands as well who they say had full knowledge and approval of their actions.
They also hypocritically absolve themselves of responsibility for their plight, piously saying that when they stopped their pagan offerings and incense burnings to the ‘Queen of Heaven’ (Asherah / Ashtoreth / Ishtar), these disasters happened to them.
They refused to consider that it was the long-suffering patience of God in which He withheld His wrath for 40 years, hoping that Judah would repent before He was forced to destroy the city and its people. And they conveniently ignore the fact that it was when Nebuchadnezzar was besieging the city already that they were forced to stop their offerings, not because they had previously stopped.
The Roman Catholic Church today reveres Mary, the mother of Jesus as the “Queen of Heaven”, in which Pope Pius XII in his papal encyclical ‘Ad Caeli Reginam’ of October 11, 1954 established Mary as the “Queen Mother” of Heaven , reigning over the whole Earth.
This is a serious blasphemy before God as it exalts Mary, a created being, to be equal or nearly equal with God Himself. Remember, Satan’s biggest sin was trying to make himsef equal to God. God said of him;
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Hell, to the lowest depths of the Pit.
Making Mary to be the ‘Queen of Heaven’ is also a serious violation of Scripture which states;
DEUTERONOMY 10:17
17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.
God shows no partiality to anyone, neither does He respect any person above anyone else. We are ALL sinners in need of salvation, Mary included. Jesus never deferred to her, but always addressed her as “woman”, not ‘Mother’ or anything else. The disciples never treated her as anyone special either.
And as the apostle Paul correctly quoted;
ROMANS 3:9-18
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.”
13 “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “the poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;
17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Mary is not, nor ever will be the ‘Queen of Heaven’.
JEREMIAH 44:24-30
24 Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt!
25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, “We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!’
26 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord God lives.”
27 Behold, I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them.
28 Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs.
29 And this shall be a sign to you,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for adversity.’
30 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’ ”
Just as God has forced Satan’s angels to serve him after the Rebellion, even so God would force the remnant of Judah in Egypt to serve Ba’al and the ‘Queen of Heaven’. He would allow a few survivors to escape to bear witness to the fulfillment of His words.
It is interesting to note that God said He would deliver Pharaoh Hophra (also known as Apries) into the hand of his enemies, but doesn’t mention them as the Babylonians. Ancient records indicate that after Nebuchadnezzar had left Egypt, one of Hophra’s generals overthrew him and his own people strangled him.
JEREMIAH 45:1-5
1 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the instruction of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch:
3 ‘You said, “Woe is me now! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.” ’
4 “Thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land.
5 And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh,” says the Lord. “But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.” ’ ”
Baruch was justifiably frightened and depressed over what was coming. Yet like Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian eunuch who saved Jeremiah from the cistern, God promises to preserve his life everywhere he would go. That is why I suspect that he would escape the coming Babylonian assault on Egypt.
JEREMIAH 46:1-2
1 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations.
2 Against Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
The famous Battle of Carchemish took place in about 605 B.C. in which Babylon and Egypt fought for control of the Middle East after Babylon had conquered Assyria, then the dominant power in the region, about 612 B.C.
JEREMIAH 46:3-10
3 “Order the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle!
4 Harness the horses, and mount up, you horsemen! Stand forth with your helmets, polish the spears, put on the armor!
5 Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back? Their mighty ones are beaten down; they have speedily fled, and did not look back, for fear was all around,” says the Lord.
6 “Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they will stumble and fall toward the north, by the River Euphrates.
7 “Who is this coming up like a flood, whose waters move like the rivers?
8 Egypt rises up like a flood, and its waters move like the rivers; and he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth, I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’
9 Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: the Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, and the Lydians who handle and bend the bow.
10 For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; it shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord God of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the River Euphrates.
As we have seen, the book of Jeremiah does not follow chronological order. God had earlier prophesied through Jeremiah that He would give Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon all of the nations in the Middle East (chapter 25) and defeating Egypt would clear the way for that dominance.
Note that the Libyans, Ethiopians and Lydians (in this case a warlike tribe living in Libya) would be allied with Egypt.
JEREMIAH 46:11-24
11 “Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; in vain you will use many medicines; you shall not be cured.
12 The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty; they both have fallen together.”
13 The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and strike the land of Egypt.
14 “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes; say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves, for the sword devours all around you.’
15 Why are your valiant men swept away? They did not stand because the Lord drove them away.
16 He made many fall; yes, one fell upon another. And they said, ‘Arise! Let us go back to our own people and to the land of our nativity from the oppressing sword.’
17 They cried there, ‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise. He has passed by the appointed time!’
18 “As I live,” says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, “Surely as Tabor is among the mountains and as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come.
19 O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, prepare yourself to go into captivity! For Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant.
20 “Egypt is a very pretty heifer, but destruction comes, it comes from the north.
21 Also her mercenaries are in her midst like fat bulls, for they also are turned back, they have fled away together. They did not stand, for the day of their calamity had come upon them, the time of their punishment.
22 Her noise shall go like a serpent, for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes, like those who chop wood.
23 “They shall cut down her forest,” says the Lord, “Though it cannot be searched, because they are innumerable, and more numerous than grasshoppers.
24 The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.”
Pharaoh Necho II’s forces were decisively defeated and were chased down into Syria. Necho retreated back into Egypt, his dream of an empire crushed, and he never again made any further expeditions.
Babylon then became the undisputed power in the Middle East.
JEREMIAH 46:25-26
25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring punishment on Amon of No, and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings—Pharaoh and those who trust in him.
26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. Afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old,” says the Lord.
In 568 B.C. Babylon swept into Egypt, defeating Pharaoh Hophra and while not conquering Egypt completely, destroyed much of it and took much plunder as had been prophesied through Ezekiel (Ezekiel, chapter 29).
And as had been prophesied through Jeremiah (chapter 44), Pharaoh Hophra was strangled by his own people when Egyptian general Amasis revolted against him, afterward becoming Pharaoh Ahmose II.
JEREMIAH 46:27-28
27 “But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; no one shall make him afraid.
28 Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the Lord, “For I am with you; for I will make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, for I will not leave you wholly unpunished.”
This prophecy covers a long period of time. While God did indeed bring the Jews back from Babylon, and many of the nations that have afflicted the Jews are either footnotes in history or have greatly reduced in power those which still exist, they are still troubled by the Iranians and Arab nations.
Eventually, after Jesus returns He will destroy the wicked of the world in the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
JOEL 3:12, 14-16
12 “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness.
16 The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
JEREMIAH 47:1-4
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.
2 Thus says the Lord: “Behold, waters rise out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood; they shall overflow the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell within; then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.
3 At the noise of the stamping hooves of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers will not look back for their children, lacking courage,
4 Because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; for the Lord shall plunder the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
Caphtor is the ancient name for Crete, an island in the Mediterranean Sea south of Greece and Turkey. In ancient times it was populated by the Minoan culture, a sea-faring empire very much like the Phoenicians of Lebanon.
There is a group of volcanic islands north of Crete called the Cyclades, created by undersea volcanoes which have reached the surface. One in particular, named Thera (Greek: ‘Fear’’) erupted between 1600 - 1525 B.C. in one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history. It erupted 5 cubic miles (61 cubic km) of magma and 24 cubic miles (100 cubic km) of ash into the atmosphere and generated heat blasts and tsunamis that destroyed the Minoan culture of the Cyclades and Crete, 60 miles to the south.
The mountainous island collapsed into a deep hole in the ocean when the cone collapsed, leaving only a partial ring of land visible above the sea. The eruption and collapse generated huge tsunamis on the north coast of Crete that may have reached a height of 300 feet and water-borne pumice deposits have been found as high as 600 feet in Turkish coastal bays to the east.
Excavations of Thera (now known as Santorini) have uncovered Minoan ruins and culture which were buried under as much as 200 feet of ash. The architecture and geologic reconstruction of the pre-eruption shape of the island closely matches Plato’s description of Atlantis. Atlantis supposedly sank into the sea in a fiery catastrophe, which closely parallel’s Plato’s description of Thera’s fate.
In 1669 German Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) created a map drawing of Atlantis based on Plato’s and Egyptian descriptions that eerily fits closely with the pictures of Santorini / Thera today.
The Minoan survivors from Crete and Thera fled the island and conquered their way down the Mediterranean coast of the Middle East. They were indeed advanced in that on Thera they had internal plumbing, hot and cold running water and could smelt and work iron in a bronze-age world. But they were not the ‘super-race’ that legends have made them out to be.
They eventually settled on the coastal plains of present-day Israel after being defeated by Pharaoh Rameses III who called them ‘Peleshet’ (Sea Peoples). And pottery fragments from the 5 Philistine cities (Gaza, Gath, Ekron, Ashkelon and Ashdod) reveal a distinct Minoan origin in artwork.
Note especially that God calls the Philistines the remnant of the island of Caphtor (Crete);
JEREMIAH 47:4
4 Because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; for the Lord shall plunder the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
JEREMIAH 47:5-7
5 Baldness has come upon Gaza, Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley. How long will you cut yourself?
6 “O you sword of the Lord, how long until you are quiet? Put yourself up into your scabbard, Rest and be still!
7 How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord has given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the seashore? There He has appointed it.”
The Phoenician City-State of Tyre fell to the Babylonians in 585 B.C. and shortly afterward Babylon conquered Judea and then destroyed the Philistines as God promised.
JEREMIAH 48:1-8
1 Against Moab. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Woe to Nebo! For it is plundered, Kirjathaim is shamed and taken; the high stronghold is shamed and dismayed—
2 No more praise of Moab. In Heshbon they have devised evil against her: ‘Come, and let us cut her off as a nation.’ You also shall be cut down, O Madmen! The sword shall pursue you;
3 A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim: ‘Plundering and great destruction!’
4 “Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard;
5 For in the Ascent of Luhith they ascend with continual weeping; for in the descent of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction.
6 “Flee, save your lives! And be like the juniper in the wilderness.
7 For because you have trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken. And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together.
8 And the plunderer shall come against every city; no one shall escape. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord has spoken.
God speaks of Moab’s (present-day Jordan) coming destruction at the hands of the Babylonians who swept down east of the Jordan River around 586 B.C.
NOTE: ‘Madmen’ was another name for the Moabite city of Dibon; Chemosh was the pagan god worshiped in Moab, listed in the Bible as an ‘abomination’;
2 KINGS 23:13
13 Then the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon.
JEREMIAH 48:9-13
9 “Give wings to Moab, that she may flee and get away; for her cities shall be desolate, without any to dwell in them.
10 Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.
11 “Moab has been at ease from his youth; he has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent has not changed.
12 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I shall send him wine-workers who will tip him over and empty his vessels and break the bottles.
13 Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.
Although Moabite cities were sometimes attacked by Israel, Moab as a nation was never completely destroyed like they would be by the Babylonians. And just as the Northern Kingdom of Israel was ashamed of their golden calf god in Bethel who failed to protect them from being destroyed by Assyria, Moab will be ashamed of their god when the Babylonians arrive.
JEREMIAH 48:14-25
14 “How can you say, ‘We are mighty and strong men for the war’?
15 Moab is plundered and gone up from her cities; her chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,” says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
16 “The calamity of Moab is near at hand, and his affliction comes quickly.
17 Bemoan him, all you who are around him; and all you who know his name, say, ‘How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!’
18 “O daughter inhabiting Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the plunderer of Moab has come against you, he has destroyed your strongholds.
19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch; ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, ‘What has happened?’
20 Moab is shamed, for he is broken down. Wail and cry! Tell it in Arnon, that Moab is plundered.
21 “And judgment has come on the plain country: on Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath,
22 On Dibon and Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,
23 On Kirjathaim and Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,
24 On Kerioth and Bozrah, on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,” says the Lord.
God lists the major cities of Moab who will be astonished, ashamed and in tears over the destruction and captivity to come.
JEREMIAH 48:26-33
26 “Make him drunk, because he exalted himself against the Lord. Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he shall also be in derision.
27 For was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him, you shake your head in scorn.
28 You who dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove which makes her nest in the sides of the cave’s mouth.
29 “We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceedingly proud), of his loftiness and arrogance and pride, and of the haughtiness of his heart.”
30 “I know his wrath,” says the Lord, “But it is not right; his lies have made nothing right.
31 Therefore I will wail for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; I will mourn for the men of Kir Heres.
32 O vine of Sibmah! I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer. Your plants have gone over the sea, they reach to the sea of Jazer. The plunderer has fallen on your summer fruit and your vintage.
33 Joy and gladness are taken from the plentiful field and from the land of Moab; I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses; no one will tread with joyous shouting— not joyous shouting!
The Moabites and Israelites were actually cousins (as were the Ammonites), who were sons of Abraham’s nephew Lot although they were born of incest by Lot’s two daughters after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis, chapter 19).
The women of Moab had corrupted the children of Israel when they came from captivity in Egypt at a place called ‘Ba’al-Peor’, teaching them to bow to Chemosh and to eat sacrifices offered to the dead, causing God to bring a plague on Israel that destroyed 24,000 Israelites. (Numbers, chapter 25).
As for their lies and excessive pride, Moabite king Mesha had been tributary to Ahab king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, but when king Ahab died, Mesha rebelled and stopped paying tribute. Ahab’s son king Jehoram of Israel allied himself with king Jehoshaphat of Judah and the king of Edom and they defeated the Moabites and laid waste to a number of their cities (2 Kings, chapter 3)
Yet in a stone tablet called the ‘Mesha stele’, Moabite king Mesha (840 B.C.) bragged as to how he had actually won the battle and had recovered territories lost to Israel earlier.
JEREMIAH 48:34-47
34 “From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh and to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim, like a three-year-old heifer; for the waters of Nimrim also shall be desolate.
35 “Moreover,” says the Lord, “I will cause to cease in Moab the one who offers sacrifices in the high places and burns incense to his gods.
36 Therefore My heart shall wail like flutes for Moab, and like flutes My heart shall wail for the men of Kir Heres. Therefore the riches they have acquired have perished.
37 “For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped; on all the hands shall be cuts, and on the loins sackcloth—
38 A general lamentation on all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure,” says the Lord.
39 “They shall wail ‘How she is broken down! How Moab has turned her back with shame!’ So Moab shall be a derision and a dismay to all those about her.”
40 For thus says the Lord: “Behold, one shall fly like an eagle, and spread his wings over Moab.
41 Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised; the mighty men’s hearts in Moab on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.
42 And Moab shall be destroyed as a people, because he exalted himself against the Lord.
43 Fear and the pit and the snare shall be upon you, O inhabitant of Moab,” says the Lord.
44 “He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who gets out of the pit shall be caught in the snare, for upon Moab, upon it I will bring the year of their punishment,” says the Lord.
45 “Those who fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of exhaustion. But a fire shall come out of Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the brow of Moab, the crown of the head of the sons of tumult.
46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perish; for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters captive.
47 “Yet I will bring back the captives of Moab in the latter days,” says the Lord. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
God laments the downfall of Moab, listing the major cities that will be destroyed. It may seem odd that God would lament having to bring judgment on a nation as arrogant, prideful and sinful as Moab. But God hates having to being destruction upon sinners who reject Him. As He said through the prophet Ezekiel;
EZEKIEL 18:32
32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”
And through the apostle Peter;
2 PETER 3:9
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
In verse 40 God prophesies that the invader would “spread his wings” over Moab. Carvings uncovered at Babylon depict king Nebuchadnezzar as a winged bull with a human head, showing his speed and power in conquest.
In verse 47 God states that he would bring the captives of Moab back “in the latter days”. Moab disappeared from history during the reign of the Persian empire when the territory of Moab was overrun by Arab tribes from the south.
The ancient territory of Moab (and Ammon) is now in the modern Arab state of Jordan, created in 1948 when the United Nations partitioned the area of Palestine into the territories of Israel and Jordan. This may be what God meant about restoring Moab in the “latter days”.
JEREMIAH 49:1-6
1 Against the Ammonites. Thus says the Lord: “Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Milcom inherit Gad, and his people dwell in its cities?
2 Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that I will cause to be heard an alarm of war in Rabbah of the Ammonites; it shall be a desolate mound, and her villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall take possession of his inheritance,” says the Lord.
3 “Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is plundered! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah, gird yourselves with sackcloth! Lament and run to and fro by the walls; for Milcom shall go into captivity with his priests and his princes together.
4 Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? Who trusted in her treasures, saying,‘Who will come against me?’
5 Behold, I will bring fear upon you,” says the Lord God of hosts, “from all those who are around you; you shall be driven out, everyone headlong, and no one will gather those who wander off.
6 But afterward I will bring back the captives of the people of Ammon,” says the Lord.
The Israelite tribe of Gad had settled east of the Jordan River and Canaan when Israel came out of captivity from Egypt, occupying territory to the north of the Ammonite kingdom.
Like the Moabites, the Ammonites were cousins of Israel, being descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot, who had been seduced by his own daughters after witnessing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis, chapter 19). Their sons were named ‘Moab’ and ‘Ben-Ammi’ and their descendants became the Moabites and Ammonites.
The tribe of Gad was conquered and deported by Sargon II of Assyria in 723 B.C. In 721 B.C. the 9 tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel joined the tribe of Gad, who was already there. The Ammonites became tributary to Assyria after being plundered and subdued (as denoted above) and they occupied the former territory of Gad after Sargon II had deported the people of Gad to Assyria.
NOTE: ‘Milcom’ (also known as ‘Molech’) was the abominable pagan god of the Ammonites.
JEREMIAH 49:7-13
7 Against Edom. Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?
8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will punish him.
9 If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, would they not destroy until they have enough?
10 But I have made Esau bare; I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. His descendants are plundered, his brethren and his neighbors, and he is no more.
11 Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in Me.”
12 For thus says the Lord: “Behold, those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And are you the one who will altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it.
13 For I have sworn by Myself,” says the Lord, “that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.”
The Edomites were descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau, making Esau an ‘uncle’ to Jacob’s descendants. That is why God, while destroying Edom as nation, would preserve their widows and fatherless children.
The Edomites refused passage through their lands to Israel when Israel came out of Egypt, knowing full well what had happened to them. Moses had promised to remain on the main road and pay for any food or water consumed by Israel, but the Edomites had met them with armed men instead (Numbers, chapter 20).
God had Israel turn away and follow the “long route” by way of the Dead Sea, so as not to cause Israel to fight against their near relatives, just as He had ordered them to leave their cousins the Ammonites and Moabites alone when they came east of Canaan.
Later, especially during the time of king David, Edom often fought against Israel, at one time destroying 10,000 Edomites in the Dead Sea valley. (2 Kings, chapter 14)
Interestingly God mentions ‘Dedan’ in verse 8 above. The people of Dedan had inhabited the west coast of Saudi Arabia but would eventually migrate westward squeezing the Edomites between Judah to the north and the Dedanites (sometimes called Nabataeans) to the south and east.
God in His wrath prophesied Edom’s destruction, not only for their hatred against Israel, but He knew that they would help the Babylonians in destroying Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar swept through in 586 B.C. as related by the prophet Obadiah, (Obadiah, chapter 1).
God prophesies that just as other nations would symbolically drink from the wine cup of His wrath at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, (Jeremiah, chapter 25), even so Edom and the Dedanites will follow suit.
JEREMIAH 49:14-19
14 I have heard a message from the Lord, and an ambassador has been sent to the nations: “Gather together, come against her, and rise up to battle!
15 “For indeed, I will make you small among nations, despised among men.
16 Your fierceness has deceived you, the pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord.
17 “Edom also shall be an astonishment; everyone who goes by it will be astonished and will hiss at all its plagues.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,” says the Lord,“No one shall remain there, nor shall a son of man dwell in it.
19 “Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan against the dwelling place of the strong; but I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For who is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd who will withstand Me?”
Edom (later called Idumea by the Greeks and Romans) was a mountainous, desert kingdom and the steepness of the mountains and cliffs were its primary defense against invasion. God promises that the Babylonians will surge from the Jordan Valley (which includes the Dead Sea floodplain) and their defensive positions will not help them.
JEREMIAH 49:20-22
20 Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Edom, and His purposes that He has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely He shall make their dwelling places desolate with them.
21 The earth shakes at the noise of their fall; at the cry its noise is heard at the Red Sea.
22 Behold, he shall come up and fly like the eagle, and spread His wings over Bozrah; the heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.
As mentioned earlier, carvings from the ruins of Babylon show Nebuchadnezzar as a bull with eagle’s wings and a human head, portraying his strength and speed of conquest. Spreading his wings over Bozrah indicates Babylon’s conquest over the capital city of Edom.
JEREMIAH 49:23-27
23 Against Damascus. “Hamath and Arpad are shamed, for they have heard bad news. They are fainthearted; there is trouble on the sea; it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus has grown feeble; she turns to flee, and fear has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor.
25 Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy?
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord of hosts.
27 “I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.”
Babylon would conquer Syria in Nebuchadnezzar’s sweep south through the entire Middle East.
Some times when the Bible speaks of “the sea” as it does in verse 23, it is speaking metaphorically of multitudes of people rather than the actual sea.
JEREMIAH 49:28-33
28 Against Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike. Thus says the Lord: “Arise, go up to Kedar, and devastate the men of the East!
29 Their tents and their flocks they shall take away. They shall take for themselves their curtains, all their vessels and their camels; and they shall cry out to them, ‘Fear is on every side!’
30 “Flee, get far away! Dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor!” says the Lord. “For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a plan against you.
31 “Arise, go up to the wealthy nation that dwells securely,” says the Lord, “which has neither gates nor bars, dwelling alone.
32 Their camels shall be for booty, and the multitude of their cattle for plunder. I will scatter to all winds those in the farthest corners, and I will bring their calamity from all its sides,” says the Lord.
33 “Hazor shall be a dwelling for jackals, a desolation forever; no one shall reside there, nor son of man dwell in it.”
Hazor was a very important, fortified Canaanite city when Israel under the leadership of Joshua invaded the Promised Land after coming out of Egypt (Joshua, chapter 11). Joshua took the city and burned it to the ground.
Archaeological excavations have shown that the city was destroyed by a devastating fire around 1200 B.C. during the time of Israel’s invasion and conquest.
Some 160 years later, a Canaanite king named Jabin who reigned from rebuilt Hazor held the northern tribes of Israel under cruel subjection for 20 years. This was brought about by God as punishment for their wickedness. (Judges, chapter 4).
God then raised up prophetess Deborah and army commander Barak who defeated Jabin’s army under commander Sisera even though Sisera had 900 iron chariots. Scripture hints that God sent a heavy rainstorm that bogged down the heavy chariots and flooded the nearby Kishon River which washed away Sisera’s army.
Sisera himself fled on foot to the tent of Jael the Kenite who was at peace with Sisera. She gave hm a bottle of milk and exhausted, he fell asleep. Jael then took a hammer and drove a tent peg through his temple into the ground, killing him.
True to God’s words, Hazor has been an abandoned dusty ruin for thousands of years.
Kedar was a loose coalition of Arab tribes associated with Abraham’s second grandson through son Ishmael who was named Kedar (Genesis chapter 12, vs. 13). They controlled most of the Saudi Arabian peninsula until Nebuchadnezzar’s rampage through the Middle East destroyed their power.
JEREMIAH 49:34-39
34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might.
36 Against Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and scatter them toward all those winds; there shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go.
37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger,’ says the Lord; ‘and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.
38 I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy from there the king and the princes,’ says the Lord.
39 ‘But it shall come to pass in the latter days: I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says the Lord.”
The Elamites occupied the highlands of present-day Iran and were often either allies or vassals of both Assyria and Babylon. However wars between them and Babylon and Assyria, pressure from migrating Cimmerians from the north, and internal strife from assassinations of rulers and usurpers weakened them until 640 B.C.
Assyrian king Ashurbanipal destroyed Susa (Shushan) in 640 B.C. and sowed the ruins with salt as a curse and to poison the land so that no crops could be grown there.
Verse 39 could refer to the fact that the present-day Iranians are believed to be descendants of the original Elamites.
JEREMIAH 50:1-7
1 The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 “Declare among the nations, proclaim, and set up a standard; proclaim—do not conceal it— say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are humiliated, her images are broken in pieces.’
3 For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land desolate, and no one shall dwell therein. They shall move, they shall depart, both man and beast.
4 “In those days and in that time,” says the Lord, “The children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; with continual weeping they shall come, and seek the Lord their God.
5 They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten.’
6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, ‘We have not offended, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’
God laments that the priests and teachers of Israel didn’t do their jobs in teaching Israel how to worship Him, instead deceiving the people into worshiping idols and pagan gods.
He also rebukes the nations who justified the destruction of the Jews who said that God sent them because of the Jews’ wickedness, therefore they were without fault.
In 539 B.C. Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon virtually without a fight, by diverting the Euphrates River and coming up under the walls which straddled the river.
Verse 4 indicates without question that remnants of all 12 tribes of Israel returned to the Land after the fall of Babylon after having been captive in Babylon for 70 years.
In 930 B.C. 10 tribes had broken away from Judah and Benjamin, forming the “Northern Kingdom of Israel”. They quickly fell into idolatry, worshiping golden calves and Ba’al. In 721 B.C. the Assyrians destroyed the Northern Kingdom and deported the survivors to Assyria and lands east. The 10 tribes disappeared from history and were labeled as ‘The 10 Lost Tribes.’ (2 Kings, chapter 17).
After a 12-year bitter assault, Nineveh, the capital of Assyria finally fell in 612 B.C. with Greek historian Diodorus saying that the Tigris River was deflected against the mud brick city walls, melting them. The prophet Nahum seems to confirm this when he prophesied of Assyria’s fall;
NAHUM 2:6
6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
The Babylonians then absorbed the remnants of Assyria into its empire.
In 586 B.C. Babylon conquered Judah and Benjamin, deporting the Jews to Babylon for 70 years, where they met the remnants of the 10 tribes that Babylon had absorbed from Assyria.
The book of Ezra recorded that Ezra the priest sacrificed for all 12 tribes upon the Jews’ return from Babylon after their 70 year captivity had ended;
EZRA 6:17
17 And they offered sacrifices at the dedication of this house of God, one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
JEREMIAH 50:8-13
8 “Move from the midst of Babylon, go out of the land of the Chaldeans; and be like the rams before the flocks.
9 For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country, and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; none shall return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall become plunder; all who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.
11 “Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, you destroyers of My heritage, because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain, and you bellow like bulls,
12 your mother shall be deeply ashamed; she who bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified and hiss at all her plagues.
God commands the returning Jewish leaders to lead Israel back to the Land, much like rams leading ewes and lambs to pasture.
Babylon was eventually destroyed in 539 B.C. by a northern coalition of Medes, Persians, Elamites, and Cimmerians.
In ancient times, cattle were used to thresh grain by walking on the stalks which separated the grain from the chaff. God commanded that they were not to muzzle oxen who were used when they trod the stalks, and could eat as they worked. This reinforced the concept that ‘a workman is worthy of his wages’.
DEUTERONOMY 25:4
4 “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.
JEREMIAH 50:14-16
14 “Put yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Shout against her all around; she has given her hand, her foundations have fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle at harvest time. For fear of the oppressing sword everyone shall turn to his own people, and everyone shall flee to his own land.
About 275 B.C. Babylon fell into decay and was abandoned, and Arab conquerors around 700 A.D. conquered the area and used bricks from Babylon for building projects. During the 17th century A.D. the ruins of Babylon were finally positively identified.
JEREMIAH 50:17-20
17 “Israel is like scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him; now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.
19 But I will bring back Israel to his home, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan; his soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days and in that time,” says the Lord, “the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve.
God promises that Babylon will be laid waste just like Assyria, while Israel will be returned to its Land, purged of sin, its punishment complete.
JEREMIAH 50:21-33
21 “Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord, “and do according to all that I have commanded you.
22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
24 I have laid a snare for you; you have indeed been trapped, O Babylon, and you were not aware; you have been found and also caught, because you have contended against the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened His armory, and has brought out the weapons of His indignation; for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the farthest border; open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps of ruins, and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left.
27 Slay all her bulls, let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment.
28 The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His temple.
29 “Call together the archers against Babylon. All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around; let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord.
31 “Behold, I am against you, O most haughty one!” says the Lord God of hosts; “for your day has come, the time that I will punish you.
32 The most proud shall stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up; I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all around him.”
‘Merathaim’ (double bitterness) is thought to be a derogatory name for Babylon. Pekod was a region of eastern Babylon.
Indeed God set a trap, as the Babylonians were caught totally by surprise when the Persians came up from the riverbed under the walls.
Babylon was indeed burned, as soft clay tablets were baked as hard as stone by the heat, preserving their written records for thousands of years.
JEREMIAH 50:33-40
33 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “The children of Israel were oppressed, along with the children of Judah; all who took them captive have held them fast; they have refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His name. He will thoroughly plead their case, that He may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 “A sword is against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord “against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her princes and her wise men.
36 A sword is against the soothsayers, and they will be fools. A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.
37 A sword is against their horses, against their chariots, and against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst; and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.
38 A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved images, and they are insane with their idols.
39 “Therefore the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals, and the ostriches shall dwell in it. It shall be inhabited no more forever, nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,” says the Lord, “so no one shall reside there, nor son of man dwell in it.
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, ever the pompous, arrogant, narcissistic self-promoter began rebuilding Babylon atop its own ruins in 1978. He had coins minted showing Nebuchadnezzar’s head alongside his own on one side with an image of the famous Hanging Gardens on the back.
Nebuchadnezzar was roundly condemned in the Bible for his monumental pride. In the book of Daniel it was said of him;
DANIEL 4:29-30
29 At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon.
30 The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?”
As a result, God humbled him, driving him insane for 7 years so that he was like a wild beast. Chapter 4, verse 33 says that after that statement;
DANIEL 4:33
33 That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
Babylonian records actually confirm his insanity. They record him as saying;
“For four years my kingdom in the city . . . gave me no joy. During this time, not one building of any importance did I issue to be built; the precious treasures of my kingdom I did not lay out . . . I did not sing praises to Merodach, my god, nor did I provide his sacrificial table with offerings, nor did I clean any of the waterways.”
Babylonians only recognized 2 seasons, summer and winter; therefore 4 “years” in their reckoning equates to about 7 modern years, just as prophesied.
Thousands of clay bricks in Babylon have had “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon” stamped on them, reinforcing Scripture’s portrayal of his pride. Saddam also had clay bricks made with an inscription stamped on them with the inscription, "This was built by Saddam Hussein, son of Nebuchadnezzar, to glorify Iraq".
I had watched his efforts on the news with fascination, remembering Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Babylon;
ISAIAH 13:20-22
20 It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation; nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.
21 But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of owls; ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will caper there.
22 The hyenas will howl in their citadels, and jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.”
And in 2003, the United States invaded Iraq and overhrew Saddam Hussein, putting an end to the rebuilding of Babylon. Many don’t like George W. Bush, but how many can say they fulfilled a 2,600 year old prophecy as he did to Isaiah’s prophecy above?
JEREMIAH 50:41-46
41 “Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation and many kings shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance; they are cruel and shall not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea; they shall ride on horses, set in array, like a man for the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43 “The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, and his hands grow feeble; anguish has taken hold of him, pangs as of a woman in childbirth.
44 “Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan against the dwelling place of the strong; but I will make them suddenly run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For who is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd who will withstand Me?”
45 Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon, and His purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.
46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations.
As discussed earlier, a coalition of Medes, Persians, Elamites, Cimmerians attacked Babylon and conquered it. While Belshazzar, son of king Nabonidus was ruling Babylon as regent at the time, Nabonidus himself was in Saudi Arabia searching for artifacts relating to the Moon god, Sin.
Hearing of the attack on Babylon he hurried to the city as indicated in verse 44 above, but was captured by the Persians.
The fall of Babylon was met with great relief and rejoicing all over the Middle East. As Isaiah would prophesy concerning Babylon’s fall;
ISAIAH 14:3-7
3 It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve,
4 that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, the golden city ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers;
6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and no one hinders.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing.
JEREMIAH 51:1-10
1 “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, against those who dwell in Leb Kamai, a destroying wind.
2 And I will send winnowers to Babylon, who shall winnow her and empty her land. For in the day of doom they shall be against her all around.
3 Against her let the archer bend his bow, and lift himself up against her in his armor. Do not spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.
4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and those thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God, the Lord of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.”
6 Flee from the midst of Babylon, and every one save his life! Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He shall recompense her.
7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations are deranged.
8 Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed. Wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed.
9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us go everyone to his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.
10 The Lord has revealed our righteousness. Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.
God continues His rebukes of Babylon, warning His people to flee the destruction of the city. Babylon has long been held up as an example of wickedness, to the extent that God labels the corrupt ‘church’ which is prophesied to rise during the End Times as ‘MYSTERY BABYLON’, the spiritual successor to physical Babylon (Revelation, chapters 17 and 18).
And like physical Babylon, God warns believers to flee ‘Mystery Babylon’ to avoid it’s punishment and total destruction brought about by their sins.
JEREMIAH 51:11-14
11 Make the arrows bright! Gather the shields! The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for His temple.
12 Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon; make the guard strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes. For the Lord has both devised and done what He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O you who dwell by many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself: “Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts, and they shall lift up a shout against you.”
God relates the sins of Babylon, mainly covetousness, conquering other nations to plunder their treasures and to exact heavy yearly tributes against the conquered in order to enrich itself. God also is avenging the destruction of His Temple at their hands.
Their unrelenting cruelty to conquered people was also legendary; they would impale captives on sharp stakes while they were still alive, letting their own body weight drive the stakes up through them. They would also skin their captives alive and hang the skins on conquered cities’ walls as a warning against rebellion.
NOTE: The reference to “many waters” in verse 13 is an allegory to Babylon ruling over multitudes of people.
God spoke of Babylon’s future fall about 160 years before it fell to the Medes and Persians, saying through the prophet Isaiah;
ISAIAH 14:4-7
4 that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased,The golden city ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers;
6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and no one hinders.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing.
JEREMIAH 51:15-19
15 He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the heaven by His understanding.
16 When He utters His voice— there is a multitude of waters in the heavens: “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”
17 Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge; every metalsmith is put to shame by the carved image; for his molded image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18 They are futile, a work of errors; in the time of their punishment they shall perish.
19 The Portion of Jacob is not like them, for He is the Maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The Lord of hosts is His name.
God compares himself and His works against lifeless, useless idols which are made by men’s hands which will perish over time. He promises to destroy them and punish the demon gods that they represent.
God again shows His compassion for Israel, again calling them “His inheritance”, a people of His choosing.
JEREMIAH 51:20-24
20 “You are My battle-ax and weapons of war: for with you I will break the nation in pieces; with you I will destroy kingdoms;
21 With you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider; with you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider;
22 With you also I will break in pieces man and woman; with you I will break in pieces old and young; with you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden;
23 With you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; with you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers.
24 “And I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion in your sight,” says the Lord.
Verses 20-23 could be referring to an End Times prophecy given to Zechariah. In this prophecy, all nations will be gathered against Jerusalem to destroy it, but God prophesied;
ZECHARIAH 12:8-9
8 In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them.
9 It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
JEREMIAH 51:25-26
25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth,” says the Lord. “And I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain.
26 They shall not take from you a stone for a corner nor a stone for a foundation, but you shall be desolate forever,” says the Lord.
Like many ancient cities, Babylon was destroyed and rebuilt several times during it’s long history, with each rebuilding being built atop the ruins of the previous city. As such, cities were rebuilt atop increasingly higher mounds, making them look like “mini-mountains”. Legends also speak of a huge “ziggurat” (pyramid-shaped pagan shrine) in the midst of Babylon which would have added to the impression.
Although conquering Arab tribes took stones and bricks from Babylon’s ruins in the 700's A.D. for building projects, God promised that no one would rebuild Babylon using the ruins of the previously destroyed city as at other times.
JEREMIAH 51:27-33
27 Set up a banner in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her, call the kingdoms together against her Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a general against her; cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts.
28 Prepare against her the nations, with the kings of the Medes, its governors and all its rulers, all the land of his dominion.
29 And the land will tremble and sorrow; for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.
30 The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting, they have remained in their strongholds; their might has failed, they became like women; they have burned her dwelling places, the bars of her gate are broken.
31 One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides;
32 The passages are blocked, the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are terrified.
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor when it is time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.”
God lists some of the members of the coalition of nations that will destroy Babylon. After Nebuchadnezzar’s death in 562 B.C. Babylon was torn by internal strife and overthrowing of rulers. A succession of weak kings caused Babylon to decline militarily and emboldened its neighbors to attack and destroy it, 23 years after Nebuchadnezzar’s death.
The Persians burned the reeds in the Euphrates River and guarded the River passages under the walls to block escape routes for the besieged Babylonians.
Ararat - Present-day Armenia, sandwiched between Russian Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan to the northeast, Iran to the east and Turkey to the west. In ancient times it was called “Urartu”.
Minni - Described by Assyrian and Urartu chronicles as a fierce war-like tribe located in western Iran.
Ashkenaz - a warlike tribe of north-central Turkey.
Medes - Powerful people of Media whose empire encompassed Iran (Persia), Iraq, Parthia, Bactria.
They are not to be confused with the Midianites of Saudi Arabia.
JEREMIAH 51:34-44
34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a monster; he has filled his stomach with my delicacies, he has spit me out.
35 Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon,” the inhabitant of Zion will say; “and my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!” Jerusalem will say.
36 Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.
37 Babylon shall become a heap, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant.
38 They shall roar together like lions, they shall growl like lions’ whelps.
39 In their excitement I will prepare their feasts; I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake,” says the Lord.
40 “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
41 “Oh, how Sheshach is taken! Oh, how the praise of the whole earth is seized! How Babylon has become desolate among the nations!
42 The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves.
43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land where no one dwells, through which no son of man passes.
44 I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed; and the nations shall not stream to him anymore. Yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
Verse 39 speaks of drunken feasts in Babylon. King (regent, actually) Belshazzar had thrown a royal feast and was drinking from the gold and silver vessels taken from the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar when he saw the famous “writing on the wall”, the fingers of a man’s hand prophesying his downfall being written as he watched in terror. And that night, the Persians attacked, destroying the city and killing Belshazzar. (Daniel, chapter 5)
Some may wonder why God has so many of Jeremiah’s prophecies speak of the destruction of Babylon. It is to give His people hope that they will be avenged on Babylon, and also that God has taken their cruelty, arrogance, greed and abominable worship practices personally and is about to pour out His wrath in full measure on the city.
The reference to the sea covering Babylon in verse 42 refers to multitudes of people coming to destroy it. And Bel is the name of the demon god in charge and worshiped in Babylon. God will punish the demon prince and destroy his city.
“Sheshach” is another name for Babylon.
JEREMIAH 51:45-50
45 “My people, go out of the midst of her! And let everyone deliver himself from the fierce anger of the Lord.
46 And lest your heart faint, and you fear for the rumor that will be heard in the land (a rumor will come one year, and after that, in another year a rumor will come, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler),
47 Therefore behold, the days are coming that I will bring judgment on the carved images of Babylon; her whole land shall be ashamed, and all her slain shall fall in her midst.
48 Then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall sing joyously over Babylon; for the plunderers shall come to her from the north,” says the Lord.
49 As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall.
50 You who have escaped the sword, get away! Do not stand still! Remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come to your mind.
Just as queen Jezebel is held up as the epitome of a wicked woman, Babylon is held up as an example of wicked, Godless organizations. The book of Revelation speaks of the rise of a wicked church during the End Times called by God “MYSTERY BABYLON” which He hates and vows to destroy just like ancient Babylon. (Revelation, chapters 17 and 18).
And just like verse 45 above, He calls for believers to abandon the spiritual Babylon lest they be destroyed with it;
REVELATION 18:1-8
1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory.
2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!
3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”
4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.
7 In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’
8 Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.
Remember, Babylon the city had been burnt, dusty ruins for over 500 years when this prophecy was written, and God promised that Babylon the city would never again be rebuilt. Therefore this is different version of Babylon, a spiritual organization.
In verse 46 God speaks of “ruler against ruler”; it was discussed earlier that Babylon was weakened by internal strife and rulers overthrowing each other. This is what God was talking about.
JEREMIAH 51:51-58
51 We are ashamed because we have heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.
52 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will bring judgment on her carved images, and throughout all her land the wounded shall groan.
53 Though Babylon were to mount up to heaven, and though she were to fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me plunderers would come to her,” says the Lord.
54 The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans,
55 Because the Lord is plundering Babylon and silencing her loud voice, though her waves roar like great waters, and the noise of their voice is uttered,
56 Because the plunderer comes against her, against Babylon, and her mighty men are taken. Every one of their bows is broken; for the Lord is the God of recompense, He will surely repay.
57 “And I will make drunk her princes and wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake,” says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
58 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; the people will labor in vain, and the nations, because of the fire; and they shall be weary.”
Just as Godless men defiled and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, even so will God have Godless men defile and destroy Babylon and its temples.
In verse 58 God speaks of the thickness of Babylon’s walls; excavations have shown the outer walls to be 88-98 feet (27-30 meters) thick!! Based on ancient measurements, 10 chariots could have fit side-by-side on the walls!!!
JEREMIAH 51:59-64
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And Seraiah was the quartermaster.
60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, all these words that are written against Babylon.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon and see it, and read all these words,
62 then you shall say, ‘O Lord, You have spoken against this place to cut it off, so that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but it shall be desolate forever.’
63 Now it shall be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it out into the Euphrates.
64 Then you shall say, ‘Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise from the catastrophe that I will bring upon her. And they shall be weary.’ ” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
Poor Baruch!! First he had to hand-write all of the words of Jeremiah against Babylon, then Seraiah was to drop it into the Euphrates River. It may seem odd that Seraiah could freely travel to Babylon but Nebuchadnezzar had not yet destroyed the city, and king Zedekiah was still a vassal ruler to Babylon.
NOTE: A Quartermaster was in charge of supplies for a city, and was in charge of the yearly tribute that Zedekiah brought to Babylon to present to Nebuchadnezzar.
JEREMIAH 52:1-3
1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2 He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
3 For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Zedekiah reigned from 599 - 588 B.C.
In 594 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar had led a failed attempt at invading Egypt and had been repulsed. This weakened Babylon’s hold on the region and caused Zedekiah to switch his allegiance from Babylon to Egypt.
JEREMIAH 52:4-11
4 Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.
5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.
7 Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the plain.
8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him.
9 So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him.
10 Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
11 He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
The 9th year of Zedekiah would have been 590 B.C. In 588 B.C. King Nebuchadnezzar captured him and deported him to Babylon and in 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar finished destroying Jerusalem and the Temple.
When Zedekiah’s sons were killed, it ended the line of the Davidic kings of Judah through king Solomon and Nebuchadnezzar ensured that Zedekiah’s watching his sons be murdered before his eyes were gouged out would be the last thing he ever saw.
JEREMIAH 52:12-16
12 Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
13 He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire.
14 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.
15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.
16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.
It was customary for conquering rulers to deport court officials and skilled craftsmen to the conquering country to prevent rebellion and to enrich the conqueror’s culture. The poor and farmers (basically ‘unskilled labor’) were left behind to cultivate the land on behalf of the conqueror so that the land would not go to waste.
JEREMIAH 52:17-23
17 The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all their bronze to Babylon.
18 They also took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the bowls, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered.
19 The basins, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the cups, whatever was solid gold and whatever was solid silver, the captain of the guard took away.
20 The two pillars, one Sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the carts, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.
21 Now concerning the pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, a measuring line of twelve cubits could measure its circumference, and its thickness was four fingers; it was hollow.
22 A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze. The second pillar, with pomegranates was the same.
23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates, all around on the network, were one hundred.
The rest of the bronze, gold and silver items that the Babylonians had not previously taken were broken up and carried away. Bronze was especially important as it was useful for tools and weapons.
One has to admire the workmanship required to make the bronze free-standing pillars which stood at the front of the Temple. The metal smiths first had to melt the bronze, then they had to cast the pillars in one piece in wet sand molds. The pomegranate decorations had to be cast in similar fashion.
The pillars were 27 feet (8.2 meters) tall, 18 feet (5.4 meters) in circumference; had a ‘capital’ (decorative top) of 7.5 feet (2.2 meters), and was approximately 4 inches (10.1 centimeters) thick.
JEREMIAH 52:24-30
24 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.
25 He also took out of the city an officer who had charge of the men of war, seven men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the principal scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.
26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
27 Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.
28 These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews;
29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons;
30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.
Nebuchadnezzar took a sampling of the court officials, army officers and representatives of all walks of life and killed them as an example of what would happen if the rest of them rebelled.
He had depopulated the city in 3 waves, and considering that the original population was probably well above 20,000 at the start of the siege, 4,600 survivors was a remnant of what had been a bustling population.
JEREMIAH 52:17-23
31 Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.
32 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
33 So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life.
34 And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
The 37th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity would have been about 560 B.C. Scholars figure he would have been between 45-55 years old by that time. And considering the renowned cruelty of the Babylonians he was probably an old, broken man by that time.
Evil-Merodach (called Amal-Marduk), son of Nebuchadnezzar (who died in 562 B.C.) was in turn assassinated in 560 B.C. by his brother-in-law for committing sacrilege and incompetence.
Jeconiah’s death date is unknown, but cuneiform tablets discovered in Babylon dated to about 562 B.C. detail the daily food rations given to Jeconiah and his sons in prison.
Jeremiah’s and Baruch’s death dates and location are unknown.
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