Read Jeremiah 17-20 while I share some thoughts with you.
GOD’S PRESCRIPTION FOR TROUBLED HEARTS – chapter 17:
An “iron stylus” was used to engrave into stone, which would make a permanent record. Israel’s sins were so engrained into their hearts and their behavior, that it was if their sins were engraved into stone. The “horns” of their altar, of course, were the places from which animal sacrifices were tied. The altar of burnt offering was where sins were forgiven. Now, it is where sins are remembered! Notice “altars” is plural, indicating the many altars built for pagan worship.
Man is and always will be cursed if he trusts in man (17:5-8) and follows man’s lead. When God cursed Adam in the garden of Eden, it was because he listened to Eve, to anyone, over listening to God. There is nothing new under the sun. A heart who turns away from the Lord is like a plant in the desert.
The easiest deception is self-deception (17:9-14). We, as humans, can rationalize anything, any behavior. We say, all too frequently, “God wants me to be happy,” or “God can’t see anything wrong with this…” And we deceive ourselves all the way into the hateful arms of the devil himself. Satan, of course, is the father of deception (John 8:44).
People were asking Jeremiah where the word of the Lord was, but they were being hypocrites (17:15-18). They did not want to hear a word from the Lord! Jeremiah asks for God’s judgment. This is not the first (11:20; 12:3; 15:15) nor will it be the last time (18:23; 20:11, 12) Jeremiah asks God to implement justice on Israel. Jeremiah was certainly human and reflecting his own desires; yet, he was also reflecting the nature of God in desiring for sin to be punished.
Jeremiah reminds them of the Sabbath commandment (17:19-27), which they completely ignored. The Sabbath law was not a minor law that could be ignored with impunity. In Num 15:32-36, a man was stoned to death, by command of God, for picking up sticks on the Sabbath day.
THE POTTER AND THE CLAY – chapter 18:
Just as God formed Adam from the clay / dust of the earth, so God has formed Israel into a nation. And God has the right to do with all nations as He sees fit. God created / formed Israel into a nation to serve His purposes of bringing His Son into the world but that purpose requires Israel to remain monotheistic, which they have insistently refused to do. They have refused to listen to God but God still calls them to turn back from the sin of their ways.
Since God has the right to do what He wishes with what belongs to Him, He’s going to bring calamity against Israel through the Babylonian nation. Jeremiah has not yet mentioned Babylon. That will come, beginning in 20:4, and from that point to the end of his book, Jeremiah will mention Babylon 169 times!
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A BROKEN JAR AND A SHATTERED NATION – chapter 19:
Just like God had Jeremiah buy a linen waistband back in chapter 13 to use as an object lesson, here, God has Jeremiah buy a pottery jar and break the brand new jar, to illustrate what God is going to do with Israel: He’s going to smash them.
Why? Because they have forsaken God. They went to the temple as if they were worshippers in spirit and truth but then they lived like pagans. They made Jerusalem into a place alien to the Holy God. They burned sacrifices to other gods, filled Jerusalem with the blood of innocent people, and offered their sons on the altars to Baal and Molech and other gods: 2 Kings 23:10.
It is ironic that Israel was offering their children in the fires of pagan gods in order to turn away the calamity that was facing them and God was going to bring things to happen that will motivate Israel to eat their own children (19:6-13; cf. Lev. 26:27-29; Deut. 28:49-57). It had happened before (2 Kings 6:28-29). Jeremiah had lamented this in his poem of Lamentations 2:20; 4:10. According to Josephus, it happened again in A. D. 70 when Jerusalem was seized by the Roman armies.
JEREMIAH’S ‘GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE’ – chapter 20:
This man named Pashhur was a priest, someone you would expect to be faithful to God, and a “chief officer,” perhaps an “overseer” in the temple of God. He should have been working with Jeremiah rather than working against him.
Jeremiah turns again to lament his message; he does not like it. He suggests that God deceived him when he called him to preach (20:7-10). Jeremiah wants to keep his mouth closed but he knows that he cannot: cf. 5:10; 23:29. In 2 Cor. 4:13, Paul will write: “We believe; therefore, we speak.” That’s the same attitude that Jeremiah expresses here. We’ve got to preach what the word reveals – nothing more; nothing less.
No, it is not always easy staying faithful to God!
Paul Holland
