(The previous post covered king Zedekiah sending Pashhur and Zephaniah to Jeremiah to enquire of God for them regarding Nebuchadnezzar. Judgment was close...)
Jeremiah 22
1 Thus said Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
(God sent Jeremiah to the king of Judah's house…)
2 And say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates.
3 Thus saith Jehovah: Execute ye justice and righteousness, and deliver him that is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.
(Jeremiah proclaimed God's Word to the king. The king was told to execute Justice and Righteousness…the rest of the commands were effects of Right and Just.)
4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
(If the king did this, the kingdom would be prolonged.)
5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith Jehovah, that this house shall become a desolation.
(If the king did not do this, God would make his house a desolation.)
6 For thus saith Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon; yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons; and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
(The "destroyers" were the Babylonians.)
8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this great city?
9 Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
(The people who saw the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah would know it was because the Jews forsook their God and worshipped other gods.)
10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth away; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11 For thus saith Jehovah touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: He shall not return thither any more.
(Shallum was the same man called Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:30-34). He was the seventeenth king of Judah.)
12 But in the place whither they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more.
(Shallum, the son of Josiah, would be sent in the captivity and would never see his land again. Josiah was the great-grandson of Hezekiah, the grandson of Manasseh.)
(Verses 13-19: transitioned to speaking about Jehoiakim, the eighteenth king of Judah.)
13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him not his hire;
14 that saith, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15 Shalt thou reign, because thou strivest to excel in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him.
(Jehoiakim was given the causes of his father's profitable reign, Josiah did Righteousness and Justice. Only Jehoiakim was to blame if he chose to do other than Righteousness and Justice.)
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to know me? saith Jehovah.
(Josiah, the sixteenth and greatest king of Judah, judged the cause of the poor and needy.)
17 But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
(Jehoiakim's eyes were covetous, he shed innocent blood, and oppressed the people violently.)
18 Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! They shall not lament for him, saying Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
(Jehoiakim would be buried with the burial of a donkey. This meant he would have the same burial in that he would be left as prey for beasts and birds.)
20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all thy lovers are destroyed.
(God led Jeremiah to Bashan. Bashan was a district east of the Jordan known for its fruitfulness which was given to the half-tribe of Manasseh. Actually, Bashan meant "fruitful." Abarim was the mountain range in Bashan that Jeremiah was to speak from.)
(Verses 21-30: the judgment of Coniah (Jehoiachin), the nineteenth king of Judah.)
21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
22 The wind shall feed all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
24 As I live, saith Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
(Coniah (Jehoiachin) was king of Judah only three months before Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem and took him into captivity.)
25 and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them of whom thou art afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
(Coniah and his mother would die in captivity.)
27 But to the land whereunto their soul longeth to return, thither shall they not return.
28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein none delighteth? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they know not?
29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah.
(The word "earth" was repeated three times here as emphasis on what was to take place concerning Coniah.)
30 Thus saith Jehovah, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.
(Coniah would not have a son sit on the throne as he did.)
Jeremiah 23
1 Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith Jehovah.
(This chapter began with a warning to shepherds (pastors) that destroyed and scattered God's sheep (Israel/believers)…)
2 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith Jehovah.
(God said He would bring to them the evil of their doings. God was Just.)
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, saith Jehovah.
(God would gather the remnant of His flock and set them back under the care of His pastors who would care for them, and then they would be profitable.)
5 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
(Christ is the Righteous Branch who will execute Justice and Righteousness on earth. Christ would (and did) deal wisely while on earth, His actions were (and are) profitable.)
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness.
(Judah and Israel would be saved and Christ's name will be called Jehovah our Righteousness. This name came from the Hebrew words: Yĕhovah tsidqenuw - "Jehovah is our Righteousness.")
7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that they shall no more say, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 but, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land.
(People would start saying of God that He was the One who brought up Israel out of captivity and back to their own land.)
9 Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of Jehovah, and because of his holy words.
(Jeremiah felt deep compassion because of God's Words.)
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right;
11 for both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith Jehovah.
(The prophets and the priests of the land were profane: defiled, corrupt.)
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith Jehovah.
13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
(The prophets caused other people to err, the other people being God's people.)
14 In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
(These prophets and priests facilitated evildoers and were compared to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.)
15 Therefore thus saith Jehovah 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 is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
(The ungodliness of the prophets had spread throughout the land. Their actions were affecting all of Israel.)
16 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Jehovah.
(God, through Jeremiah, told the people that the false prophets were making them unprofitable and that they spoke visions from their own hearts. They prophesied for their own benefit. True prophesying benefits other people.)
17 They say continually unto them that despise me, Jehovah hath said, Ye shall have peace; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you.
(The false prophets were telling the ungodly that they would have peace and no evil.)
18 For who hath stood in the council of Jehovah, that he should perceive and hear his word? who hath marked my word, and heard it?
19 Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, even his wrath, is gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked.
(The wicked would experience God's wrath first hand.)
20 The anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly.
(Clearly the ungodly did not understand God. However, after they experienced His judgment, they would later understand.)
21 I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I spake not unto them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23 Am I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? saith Jehovah. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith Jehovah.
(God saw all. God could be present in more than one place at one time: omnipresent.)
25 I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
27 that think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgat my name for Baal.
28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? saith Jehovah.
(The wheat was still good even if there was straw (chaff). God's Word (wheat) was still good even if there was evil (chaff) surrounding it.)
29 Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
(God's Word (fire) consumed the evil (chaff). God's Word was like a hammer (to pound) which would break up the fallow ground: Jeremiah 4:3.)
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that steal my words every one from his neighbor.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith Jehovah, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all, saith Jehovah.
(God was (and is) against the false prophets. The false prophets' words would be a burden on themselves.)
33 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath Jehovah answered thee? and, What hath Jehovah spoken?
34 But if ye say, The burden of Jehovah; therefore thus saith Jehovah: Because ye say this word, The burden of Jehovah, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of Jehovah;
35 therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave unto you and to your fathers, away from my presence:
36 and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
(God told the false prophets He would bring an everlasting reproach on the people who claimed to speak God's Word but actually did not.)
Jeremiah 24
(This chapter began prophecies of the Babylonian captivity…)
1 Jehovah showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of Jehovah, after that Nebuchadrezzar 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.
(God gave Jeremiah a vision of two baskets of figs.)
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.
(One basket was good. One basket was evil.)
3 Then said Jehovah unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
(God asked Jeremiah what he saw. Jeremiah saw good and evil figs.)
4 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
5 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.
6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
(God said the good figs were those from who were carried away to Babylon for good, the good (right and just) people. God would acknowledge them and bring them again to their land and build (growth) them up.)
7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Jehovah: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
(God would give them a heart to know Him, they would be His people and He would be their God, because they would return to Him with their whole heart.)
8 And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad, surely thus saith Jehovah, So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt,
(The bad figs were those of God's people who rejected Him. Zedekiah was the twentieth and final king of Judah. He was placed over Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. In 2 Kings 25, even Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon and his sons were killed in front of him.)
9 I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
(The evil figs would be sent away with the sword, famine, and pestilence among them.)
(This post covered numerous prophecies concerning the kings of Judah before the captivity and prophecies concerning the captivity itself.)
Day 231
Jer 22:6
ReplyDeleteThou art Gilead unto me, the head of Lebanon
What do these specific places mean in this verse?
Gilead the head of Lebanon was mentioned here because of its past beauty. God was saying that regardless of how He viewed the house of the king of Judah, He would cause them to be desolate.
DeleteJust as Gilead, the head of Lebanon, was beautiful and now desolate, so would the house of the king of Judah be.