Jeremiah 48

Dear RTB’ers,

Chapters 46 to 49 are the Lord’s prophecies against Israel’s neighbors, then in chapters 50 and 51, against Babylon. I don’t have a lot to say about these prophecies; a lot of cities and gods are mentioned – good fodder for Old Testament scholars, but not so much for us. I abdicated fully yesterday, but then again, Easter Sunday only comes once a year!!

One small item worth noting… Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. (v. 36) Here we have the ESV translation, where the “my” adjectives are not capitalized as they are in the NASB. So is this Jeremiah speaking or is it the Lord? If the Lord, then He is mourning for Moab, even though He has allowed for their destruction. Confusing. But then again, He allows us to fail when we are off in a wrong direction, and I feel certain that He “mourns” as we reap the fruits of our waywardness. So it may be the Lord or it may be Jeremiah mourning. I would suggest – Jeremiah.

Hang on! Only four more chapters, four more days of Jeremiah…

Blessings.

Jeremiah 46-47

Dear RTB’ers,

Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. (Luke 24:5b-7)

Happy Easter, y’all!!

Blessings.

---

See also: July 9 (2023) / Jeremiah 47; 46:1-12; 13:1-14; 18:1-17.

Jeremiah 44-45

Dear RTB’ers,

Holy Saturday. Jesus in the tomb. Or not…??!! Ponder and pray.

Jeremiah in Egypt, having been taken there against his will. Someone (any of us?) reading this book for the first time has to wonder what will become of him. The Lord has promised destruction (the sword, famine, and pestilence) to all those who feared Babylon and fled to Egypt: …none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, except some fugitives. (v. 44:14) Might Jeremiah be one of those “fugitives”? Stay tuned!

Holy Saturday. Jesus in the tomb. Ponder and pray.

Blessings.

---

See also: August 7 (2023) / II Kings 25:22-26; Jeremiah 39:11-44:30 (again).

Jeremiah 42-43

Dear RTB’ers,

Good Friday. Think on that a bit. Ponder and pray. To quote John, “I’ll wait…”

So yesterday we left Jeremiah in Mizpah. The Babylonians had left some people behind: Nebuzaradan …left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. (Jer. 39:10) They were told by Gedaliah, their leader, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. … gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.” (Jer. 40:9b-10) In spite of the civil unrest that we read about yesterday, with Gedaliah murdered and Johanan the “de facto” leader, it was looking good for this remnant left behind. They even asked Jeremiah to seek the Lord on their behalf, confident in His response: Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God. (v. 42:6) Looking good…!

Sadly, the leaders did not follow through on their commitment. When Jeremiah reported God’s word to them that they should remain on the land and that He would watch over them, their fear of the Babylonians was greater than their fear of the Lord. So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah. And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. (vv. 43:4, 7) Jeremiah is effectively taken captive with them and we find him continuing to speak the word of the Lord, but now in the land of Egypt.

Will the Lord deliver Jeremiah from his Egyptian captivity? Stay tuned!

Blessings.

---

One other item: Good Friday. Think on that a bit. Ponder and pray…

---

See also: August 7 (2023) / II Kings 25:22-26; Jeremiah 39:11-44:30.

Jeremiah 39-41

Dear RTB’ers,

A long narrative today. Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians; Zedekiah meets a horrible end; Jeremiah is spared; and chaos follows in neighboring cities.

Yes, Jeremiah is spared. The Babylonian leaders knew of Jeremiah’s prophecies against Jerusalem and his encouragement to the people to surrender to Babylon, so he was brought out of prison and allowed to choose between going to Babylon or staying in neighboring cities. He chose to stay behind and lived in Mizpah with Gedaliah, who had been appointed by the Babylonians to oversee the people and the land. The rest of our reading today tells of the assassination of Gedaliah and more murders of innocent pilgrims, and the ensuing battle and the escape to Ammon of the conspirators.

Jerusalem is destroyed, Zedekiah is deported to Babylon, and Jeremiah is safe among the Jewish people who remain behind. And we still have eleven chapters and eight more days before we finish Jeremiah.

Blessings.

---

See also: August 4 (2023) / II Kings 25:4-21; Jeremiah 52:7-27; 39:1-10.

Jeremiah 37-38

Dear RTB’ers,

Good morning and welcome to April! I don’t have any April Fool’s jokes for you, and neither did Jeremiah! He told them again and again that Jerusalem would be overthrown by the Babylonians, and it happened just as he said.

After doing battle with King Jehoiakim in yesterday’s reading, today Jeremiah finds a friend – a savior, even – in King Zedekiah. First, Zedekiah calls to Jeremiah seeking prayer (Jer. 37:3); then he calls him to the court a second time and delivers him from a horrible prison to the court of the guard (Jer. 37:17, 21); then he arranges for Jeremiah to be rescued from the cistern in which he had been dumped and returned again to the court of the guard (Jer. 38:10-13). All along Zedekiah had feared the leading Jewish officials, and in between those previous events, sadly, the king had feared the leading Jewish officials and allowed them to mistreat Jeremiah (Jer. 38:5-6). But mostly (as far as we have read), Jeremiah has an ally in Zedekiah. That will make it more difficult for us to see what happens to Zedekiah when he later ignores Jeremiah’s warnings.

I have spoken with admiration for Jeremiah’s courage in speaking the word of the Lord, especially his persistence in doing so in the face of opposition from Jewish officials. But that’s not to say that it’s been all “peaches and cream” for Jeremiah. Just the opposite, in fact! First we see him wrongly arrested, beaten, and thrown into a horrible prison (Jer. 37:13-15). Then we see him pleading with Zedekiah not to be returned to that prison (Jer. 37:20). Finally, he is again taken by Jewish officials and thrown into a muddy cistern (Jer. 38:4-6). Upon his rescue from that ordeal, he will spend the rest of his Jerusalem days imprisoned in the court of the guard. Yes, I admire Jeremiah’s courage and persistence, but I also feel for him in having to go through his many sufferings.

I can imagine that Peter, Paul, and other New Testament followers must have had Jeremiah in mind when they went through sufferings and even martyrdom in their faithfulness to Jesus’ teachings. Even today we pray every week for Christians in the “Persecuted Church” who might be looking back on Jeremiah and those New Testament leaders. Lastly, they (and we) have Jesus’ own Holy Week sufferings to reflect upon. No doubt, their prayer through these times is Paul’s own perspective on all that he went through: So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. (II Corinthians 4:16-18a)

We need to pray more for those who suffer for Christ’s sake.

Blessings.

---

See also: July 26 / Jeremiah 23:1-8; 38.

Jeremiah 36

Dear RTB’ers,

Today, the Scroll – #1 and #2. Over the next few chapters you will begin to see why I like the book of Jeremiah so much:

• The Lord speaks to him and he listens.
• He does the Lord’s bidding, speaking whatever he is told, in spite of opposition.
• Even with the resistance and persecution, he continues following the Lord’s instructions – he is persistent!!
• The Lord watches over him and protects him.
• The words that he speaks come to pass.

I love Jeremiah’ persistence in the face of opposition! To paraphrase St. Paul, “He knows Him in Whom he has believed”. (See II Timothy 1:12.)

So, the scroll… First, dictated by Jeremiah to Baruch (Jer. 36:4); then read by Baruch to “all the people” in the temple (Jer. 36:10); word brought by Micaiah to Jewish officials (Jer. 36:13); the scroll read by Baruch to the officials (Jer. 36:15); the beginning of the scroll read by the officials to the king (Jer. 36:23); the scroll burned by the king (Jer. 36:23); a second scroll dictated by Jeremiah to Baruch, And many similar words were added… (Jer. 36:32). Persistence!!

So, how are we doing with persistence? Maybe in prayer and daily devotionals? Maybe against temptation? Maybe in service when we are growing tired? Maybe simply resting in who God is and who we are in His sight? Not to worry – He persists whether we do or not. Persistence!

Blessings.

---

See also: July 10 (2023) / Jeremiah 36:1-10; 25:1-14; 36:11-32; 45; 15:10-21.

Jeremiah 35

Dear RTB’ers,

The Rechabites. It’s a simple story. Rules had been laid down by their grandfather, Rechab, and passed on through their father, Jonadab, and were faithfully obeyed throughout the family. God uses them as a standard by which to compare Judah and Jerusalem. The Rechabites were obeying human fathers, while the Israelites were failing to obey their Creator, their heavenly Father: The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to Me. (v. 14)

So, us? Taking a page from John… To whom are we listening? Whose word are we obeying? Where is our heart most truly set?

Blessings.

---

See also: July 13 (2023) / II Kings 24:1-4; Jeremiah 35.

Jeremiah 34

Dear RTB’ers,

Jeremiah speaks the word of the Lord and Zedekiah and his officials listen: King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty to them, that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free. (vv. 8b-10) Awesome! What a gracious act, the officials obeying Zedekiah’s proclamation and setting their slaves free! Well done, Zedekiah! Well done, officials and people!

But wait…!! In the very next verse, But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. (v. 11) My Study Bible notes that Egypt had intervened on behalf of Jerusalem against Babylon and the Babylonians had temporarily lifted the siege. It seems that the slaves had been freed so that they could help defend the city. But now, with the siege lifted, the officials and people wanted their slaves back. What a turnabout!

So, an item for us…? Have we ever asked the Lord for this or that and seen our request granted, and thanked Him and served Him with all our hearts? And then, months or years later, we find ourselves back into our old ways of life. Not a good pattern!

Our God is a forever God. We need to be “forever people”!

Blessings.