Dear RTB’ers,
And we are back to Fred posting the first comments of the day. Thank you, John, for stepping in during our travels. Jeremiah is not the easiest book on which to offer comments, but you did that admirably. So we continue…
I doubt that I will get this finished before we have to leave for church, but a beginning nonetheless. I had three items to cover:
- Jesus the Messiah (vv. 5-6)
- False prophets – beginning in verse 9 and continuing in the rest of the chapter.
- A further reflection on false prophets (v. 36)
First, Jesus the Messiah… My Study Bible called these verses one of the most important Messianic passages in Jeremiah. I would encourage you to read them over and over, word by word, replacing “Jesus” for all the other Messianic references.
Second, false prophets… Jeremiah was surrounded by these false prophets. We learned a few days ago that they even physically abused him, beating him and putting him in stocks. Yet he continued to speak out against them. Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in My house I have found their evil, declares the Lord. Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall, for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, declares the Lord. (vv. 11-12) We can read about false prophets in Jeremiah’s time, but what about in our own time? I’m sure that Reformation leaders saw false prophets in the Catholic Church – that various teachings and man-made laws did not follow Scripture. Our own Anglican Church in North America was formed as a result of our leaders seeing false prophets in the Episcopal Church.
Finally, verse 36, For you will no longer remember the pronouncement of the Lord, because every person’s own word will become the pronouncement, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of armies, our God. (NASB) Essentially Jeremiah is suggesting that virtually anyone in Judah or Jerusalem could be a false prophet. They say and do what they want without regard to pronouncements (laws) from the Lord. That sounds a lot like our 21st century USA culture!
Blessings.
Fred