Day 234: Jeremiah 34-36

(The previous post covered prophecies and events that occurred while Jeremiah was in prison.)

Jeremiah 34
¹ The word which came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying:

(This chapter contained more prophecies concerned with the Babylonian captivity…)

² Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:

(God would give Jerusalem to the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) and he would burn it with fire.)

³ and thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

(Zedekiah would not escape the captivity. He would see and speak with Nebuchadnezzar face to face.)

⁴ Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus saith Jehovah concerning thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword;
⁵ thou shalt die in peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they make a burning for thee; and they shall lament thee, saying, Ah Lord! for I have spoken the word, saith Jehovah.

(Zedekiah would not die by the sword but in peace. The people who mourned Zedekiah would say "Ah Lord!" because he was a lord. Altogether different than Jehovah being the Lord.)

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
⁷ when the king of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities.

(Jeremiah spoke these words to Zedekiah during the Babylonian attack on Jerusalem.)

⁸ The word that came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
⁹ that every man should let his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant, that is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make bondmen of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.

(Zedekiah made a decree that proclaimed liberty to all men, including servants.)

¹⁰ And all the princes and all the people obeyed, that had entered into the covenant, that every one should let his man-servant, and every one his maid-servant, go free, that none should make bondmen of them any more; they obeyed, and let them go:
¹¹ but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

(At first the masters obeyed and let their servants go. However, they did not continue their obedience and brought their servants back under their subjection.)

¹² Therefore the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
¹³ Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,

(God responded to the masters' disobedience with a Word to Jeremiah…)

¹⁴ At the end of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother that is a Hebrew, that hath been sold unto thee, and hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.

(See Leviticus 25:10, 39-46 and Deuteronomy 15:12.)

¹⁵ And ye were now turned, and had done that which is right in mine eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:

(The people did right before God by doing their end of the Covenant…)

¹⁶ but ye turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had let go free at their pleasure, to return; and ye brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

(…however, it was not long lasting. The servants were forced back into subjection.)

¹⁷ Therefore thus saith Jehovah: ye have not hearkened unto me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim unto you a liberty, saith Jehovah, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth.
¹⁸ And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, that have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof;
¹⁹ the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, that passed between the parts of the calf;
²⁰ I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food unto the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth.

(God's response to their disobedience was to cause the people to be given to Babylon, they would all be servants to a heathen master.)

²¹ And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, that are gone away from you.
²² Behold, I will command, saith Jehovah, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

(Jerusalem would be destroyed.)




Jeremiah 35
¹ The word which came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
² Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.

(God told Jeremiah to go to the Rechabites and give them wine to drink. The Rechabites were descendants of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses. They were a Kenite tribe which settled south of Judah.)

³ Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites;
⁴ and I brought them into the house of Jehovah, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.
⁵ And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said unto them, Drink ye wine.
⁶ But they said, We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons, for ever:

(After Jeremiah brought them wine they refused because Jonadab, the son of Rechab, commanded them not to drink wine and they obeyed. Jonadab was a son of Rechab, chief of the Rechabites, in the time of Jehu and Ahab, and a nephew of David.)

⁷ neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land wherein ye sojourn.
⁸ And 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 houses for us to dwell in; neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed:
¹⁰ but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

(The Rechabites also obeyed the command from Jonadab to live in tents and to not build houses to live in or plant seed in fields or vineyards.)

¹¹ But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and 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.

(The Rechabites went to Jerusalem because they feared the Babylonian and Syrian armies who came to conquer the land.)

¹² Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying,
¹³ Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith Jehovah.
¹⁴ The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and unto this day they drink none, for they obey their father's commandment: but I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking; and ye have not hearkened unto me.

(God used the Rechabites as an example. The Rechabites were commanded something of their father and they obeyed. The Israelites did not do this but disobeyed their Father (God).)

¹⁵ I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.
¹⁶ Forasmuch as the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people hath not hearkened unto me;
¹⁷ therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.

(Because the people did not listen to God was why they had the evil pronounced against them.)

¹⁸ And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he commanded you;
¹⁹ therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.

(Because the Rechabites did listen to their father, there would always be left representatives of that clan to stand before God.)




Jeremiah 36

(Chapters 36-44 contained mostly historical events connected with a few predictions of Jeremiah. This section gave the history of the prophet before and after the fall of Jerusalem.)

¹ And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
² Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.

(God commanded Jeremiah to write down God's Words in a book...)

³ It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

(...so that people might hear the words and repent.)

⁴ Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Jehovah, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.

(Baruch wrote the words out of Jeremiah's mouth. Baruch was a friend and companion of Jeremiah to whom an Apocryphal book was ascribed.)

⁵ And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of Jehovah:
⁶ therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah's house upon the fast-day; and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.

(Because Jeremiah was in prison, he had Baruch go to the temple and proclaim these words to the people.)

⁷ It may be they will present their supplication before Jehovah, and will return every one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the wrath that Jehovah hath pronounced against this people.

(Jeremiah supplied the reason (why) to Baruch for what Jeremiah asked him to do. Just as God told Jeremiah, Jeremiah told Baruch it was for the people to be given information that could lead them to repentance…because God's wrath was great against the people.)

⁸ And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of Jehovah in Jehovah's house.
⁹ Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Jehovah.
¹⁰ Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Jehovah's house, in the ears of all the people.

(Baruch read God's Words to the people during a proclaimed fast. There would have been many more people in Jerusalem during this time than during a time without a proclaimed fast.)

¹¹ And when Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of Jehovah,
¹² he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes were sitting there, to wit, Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
¹³ Then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.

(Micaiah saw the effect these words had on the people and declared these same words to the people in the king's house.)

¹⁴ Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thy hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.
¹⁵ And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.

(All the princes sent Jehudi to request that Baruch come and read the words to them.)

¹⁶ Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.
¹⁷ And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?

(The princes wanted to know how Baruch came upon these words.)

¹⁸ Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.
¹⁹ Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye are.

(The princes told Baruch to go and hide himself and Jeremiah. Why?)

²⁰ And they went in to the king into the court; but they had laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe; and they told all the words in the ears of the king.

(The king was made aware of the words in the roll (book).)

²¹ So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll; and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes that stood beside the king.
²² Now the king was sitting in the winter-house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him.
²³ And it came to pass, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.

(The king cut the book and burnt it in the fire.)

²⁴ And they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.

(Clearly these men did not believe these words were from God. They had no fear or mourning when the book was destroyed.)

²⁵ Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll; but he would not hear them.

(There were three men who requested the book not be burned, but the king ignored them.)

²⁶ And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Jehovah hid them.
²⁷ Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,
²⁸ Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.

(God had Jeremiah write the words in another book.)

²⁹ And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah thou shalt say, Thus saith Jehovah: Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?
³⁰ Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.

(This version of the book had additional words regarding added judgments on Jehoiakim.)

³¹ And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they hearkened not.
³² Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and there were added besides unto them many like words.

(The words were written again and many more.)

(This post covered historical events that occurred before the fall of Jerusalem.)

Day 235