March 2 / Jeremiah 24-25

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Jeremiah 24-25

Dear RTB’ers,

After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon… (v. 24:1a) In today’s first verse we see that many of the residents of Jerusalem have already been taken into exile to Babylon. But we still have another 28 chapters in Jeremiah! So, looking forward just a bit we see in Jeremiah 25:3 that Jeremiah has been speaking the word of the Lord for 23 years and my Study Bible notes that Jeremiah is only halfway through his ministry. Maybe Jeremiah is more chronologically correct than our Chronological Study Bible suggests?

Although Jerusalem has gone into exile, the Lord will have His way with the remnant left behind and with all of Judah’s enemies: Because you have not obeyed My words, behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. (vv. 25:8b-9) The mention of those enemies is long and thorough, beginning with Jerusalem, naturally, then Egypt and ending with Babylon, herself. (vv. 25:18-26) The only omission that I see is Damascus. Possibly it is subsumed with other nations, …all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. (v. 25:26a)

So now we leave Jeremiah for a time, almost three weeks, actually, and we finish what we started in Matthew. Then we’ll come back to Jeremiah and his follow-up, Lamentations. We’ve got good reading ahead, folks!  

Blessings.

See also: July 15 / II Kings 24:5-17; Jeremiah 22:18-30; 13:15-27; II Chronicles 36:5-10; Jeremiah 24:1-10.

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  1. Since I couldn’t come to the RTB meeting yesterday, I decided to put my thoughts about what we’ve read into writing. I’m glad I did, now that we are leaving it for a bit. So I’m sharing it here:

    If I were asked to summarize Jeremiah so far:

    • God to Israel: “After all I’ve done to bless and protect you, you have repeatedly abandoned My ways and commandments, and given your worship to idols. Now I am sending destruction on you, and you will be taken from this land.”

    Summary of Who God is and His ways:

    • Justice for the poor; generosity, not greed; do not oppress foreigners and the powerless; practice kindness, justice, and righteousness. I ask myself, are we—individually and collectively as a nation—following God’s ways?

    Some verses that shouted to me are below…

    … they do not seek justice. They do not promote the case of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor. Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

    Jeremiah 5:28-29

    From the least to the greatest, … all practice deceit.

    Jeremiah 6:13

    If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm…

    Jeremiah 7:5-6

    … From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.

    Jeremiah 8:10

    And finally…

    This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know Me, that I am the LORD, Who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.

    Jeremiah 9:23-24

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