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2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 236

Aug23

    Day 236—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading: Israel’s history and Jeremiah’s prophecy.

    Day 236 – Jeremiah 51 – 52 (Judgment on Babylon, Recap of Jerusalem’s fall)

Jeremiah 51. The judgment and destruction of Babylon is continued in this lengthy chapter.

Jeremiah predicts Babylon’s coming destruction even as it still takes captives of the lands around it. THEN, come those encouraging words….“For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD of hosts…”  (Remember that all this was to happen WHILE the exiles of Judah were still in captivity in Babylon. It would have been terrifying to experience except for the words of prophets like Jeremiah, who told them it would happen and that they would not be forsaken by God and would be returned to their land.)

And here’s how it will end for Babylon: “The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for His Temple.”

Verses 20-23 show how God uses Cyrus of Persia (& Medes) as His war club. “You are my hammer and weapon of war: 1) with you I break nations in pieces;

2) with you, I destroy kingdoms;

3) with you, I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

4) with you, I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;

5) with you, I break in pieces man and woman;

6) with you, I break in pieces the old man and the youth;

7) with you, I break in pieces the young man and the young woman;

8) with you, I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock,

9) with you, I break in pieces the farmer and his team;

10) with you, I break in pieces governors and commanders.   

I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the LORD.”

“Then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against them from the north, declares the LORD. Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.”

AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER IS A NOTE FROM JEREMIAH. He wrote in a book all the disasters that would come upon Babylon, and he gave the book to Seraiah when he went with Zedekiah, king of Judah to Babylon. Jeremiah’s instructions to Seraiah were to read all the words of the book about the disasters that would come to Babylon and how the LORD would eventually–surely–cut them off.

And when Seraiah finished reading Jeremiah’s book to all the people, he was to tie a stone to it, throw it into the Euphrates River, and say, “Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her.”

(What encouragement to the wounded, bedraggled captives! Although they must wait 70 years.)

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Jeremiah 52. NOTE THE FINAL ENDS TO THE LAST TWO KINGS IN JUDAH. THEY ARE QUITE DIFFERENT!

This closing chapter recounts the fall of Jerusalem under Zedekiah, the final king of Judah. When Jerusalem’s walls are breached, and the Chaldeans pour into the city, Zedekiah, his family, and his officials escape and make a run to cross the Jordan River. They are captured in the plains of Jericho, sentenced by Nebuchadnezzar, and all are slaughtered in Zedekiah’s sight. His eyes are then put out, and he is taken to Babylon blind and in chains to rot in prison until he dies.

All in Jerusalem is broken and burned. It’s treasures are carried away, and a few of the very poorest are left to tend the fields.

Then comes Jeremiah’s paragraph of hope. It’s about king Jehoiachin, the next-to-the-last king of Judah. After three months of reign, he listened to Jeremiah’s word from the LORD and SURRENDERED to the Chaldeans. He was taken captive to Babylon.

After Nebuchadnezzar died, the next king of Babylon…..

“GRACIOUSLY FREED Jehoiachin and brought him out of prison. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table, and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king according to his daily need, until the day of his death, as long as he lived.”

What a difference in the “ends” of the two last “evil” kings of Judah! And why? Because ONE of them–just as evil as the other–obeyed the LORD.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 235

Aug22

    Day 235—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading: Israel’s history and Jeremiah’s prophecy.

    Day 235 – Jeremiah 49 – 50 (Judgments on Ammon, Edom, various cities and Babylon)

Jeremiah 49. Like the Moabites, the Ammonites were descended from Abraham’s nephew, Lot. When Assyria took the northern kingdom captive, the Ammonites moved right into the territories of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. 

“Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then has Milcon (god, Molech) settled in his cities?”  “I will cause  the battle cry to be heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites; it shall become a desolate mound.”    “Cry out….put on sackcloth, lament, and run to and fro among the hedges? For Milcom (Molech) shall go into exile with his priests and officials “But, afterward, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the LORD.

The Edomites were descendants of Esau, Jacob/Israel’s twin brother. They lived in the high country east and south of the Dead Sea.  “Edom shall become a horror. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.  As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown, says the LORD, no man shall dwell there.”     

Damascus in Syria also comes under the LORD’s judgment. “Damascus has become feeble. She turned to flee, and panic seized her; anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her as of a woman in labor.”     “I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.”       

Kedar and Hazor in Arabia, were descendants of Ishmael, and were struck down by Nebuchadnezzar as he headed for Jerusalem…“for the king has made a plan against you and formed a purpose against you.”    

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Jeremiah 50. And at last, God’s judgment will come upon Babylon.  

“Declare among the nations and proclaim….Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed.” 

” For out of the north, a nation has come up against her which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away. “

Then, the captivity of Israel will be ended.

“In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the LORD their God.  They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, “Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.”     

And more, much more, against Babylon.

“Though you rejoice, though you exult O plunderers of my heritage… Because of the wrath of the LORD, she shall not be inhabited but shall be an utter desolation; everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled.”  “Raise a shout against her all around; she has surrendered; her bulwarks have fallen; her walls are thrown down.”   

“How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and broken! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations.  I set a snare for you, and you were taken, O Babylon, and you did not know it; you were found and caught because you opposed the LORD.”

“The LORD has opened his armory and brought out the weapons of His wrath, for the Lord GOD of hosts has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.”

“A sword against the Chaldeans declares the LORD, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her officials and her wise men!

A sword against the diviners, that they may become fools!

A sword against her warriors that they may be destroyed!

A sword against her horses and her chariots, and against all the foreign troops in her midst that they may become women!

A sword against all her treasures that they may be plundered!

A drought against her waters that they may be dried up!

For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols. Therefore, wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people nor be inhabited for all her generations.”

“Behold, a people comes from the north, a mighty nation……..the sound of them is like a roaring of the sea; they ride on horses, arrayed as a man for battle against YOU, O daughter of Babylon.”

“At the sound of the capture of Babylon, the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.”

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(More horribleness against Babylon for Israel’s sake tomorrow.”)

                                                                                                                                                                         

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 234

Aug21

    Day 234—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading: Israel’s history and Jeremiah’s prophecy.

    Day 234 – Jeremiah 46 – 48 (non-chronological judgments on Egypt, Philistia, and Moab)

Jeremiah 46. God tells about Egypt‘s overthrow by Babylon. Here is a decisive call to get ready for defeat.  “That day is the day of the LORD GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes. The sword shall devour, and be sated and drink its fill of their blood.” (referring to Egyptian defeat)

God tells of punishment but later relief.  “Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his officers.  Afterward, Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old.”

But the Jews who fled to Egypt and then went to Babylon were to “Fear not.” “I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you, I will not make a full end.”

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Jeremiah 47. God tells of judgment on the Philistines by the Babylonians at the same time as they conquered Judah.  Later, it seems that Pharoah struck down Gaza before the Egyptians themselves were defeated by Babylon. 

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Jeremiah 48.  The Lord (through Jeremiah) calls down WOE on Moab (east across the Dead Sea from Israel). God’s judgment on Moab was intense. “The destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the valley shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken.”   All the cities of Moab are to be destroyed “because he magnified himself against the LORD.“

Judgment and hope, even to Moab.  “Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons have been taken captive and your daughters into captivity.  Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the LORD.”

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 233

Aug20

    Day 233—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading: Israel’s history and Jeremiah’s prophecy.

    Day 233 – Jeremiah 41 – 45. (Gedaliah murdered, Egypt?, Jeremiah kidnapped, Judgment on Egypt, a word to Baruch)

Jeremiah 41. Governor Gedaliah was warned twice that Ishmael (a royal descendant seeking power) was planning to assassinate him. But Gedaliah ignored Johanan’s warning and his open offer to kill Ishmael. (40: 12-16)  

Now Ishmael and his men, while eating dinner with Gedaliah, killed him and all the Judeans who happened to be there. Next, Ishmael slaughtered 70 of the 80 men, bringing grain into the city. He threw all their bodies in a large cistern. He then took all the people and left for Ammon.  Johanan and his men pursued them and got the people back, but Ishmael escaped.  Now, all the people were terrified of the Chaldeans because the Governor whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed had been murdered. 

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Jeremiah 42. Johanan and his men and all the people came to Jeremiah.  “Let our plea for mercy come before you and pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant–because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us–that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” And they promised to do whatever the LORD said.

Jeremiah prayed for ten days.

God said: “If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you.  Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him…for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land.”

Wow. Praise God! What news!!

But God continued… “IF you set your faces to enter EGYPT and go to live there, THEN the sword that you fear shall overtake you there, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and you shall die.”     “Do not go to Egypt. Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day.”

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Jeremiah 43. When Jeremiah finished telling them God’s word, the leaders responded, “You are telling us a lie.”  “You want to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans to kill us or take us to Babylon.”

So all the leaders and all the remnant of Judah did NOT obey the voice of the LORD to stay in the land. The commanders took them — all the people that Captain Nebuzaradan had left with Gedaliah — AND JEREMIAH — and went to Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD.

God’s message to them in Egypt was that now He was sending Nebuchadnezzar to Egypt to strike the land, bring pestilence & sword, and take captives to Babylon. He was also going to burn the temples of the gods of Egypt and break down the obelisks and pagan temples. 

Those disobedient Jews were now “out of the pot” but “into the fire.”

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Jeremiah 44. There, the LORD spoke condemnation to the people through Jeremiah. “They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared nor walked in my law and the statutes that I set before you and your fathers.  Behold, I will set my face against you for harm to cut off all Judah.”   

“None of the remnant of Judah who has come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the Land of Judah.”

The LORD even gave them a sign; Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, would be given into Nebuchadnezzar’s hands. (It happened 2 1/2 years later.)

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Jeremiah 45 is a flashback to the time of King Jehoiakim, when Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary, was writing the words of Jeremiah in a book by dictation, and then the king burned it.  Baruch was grieving over the “things that might have been” and his own aspirations of fame & glory. Jeremiah told him God’s words for him, “Do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold I am bringing a disaster upon all flesh. But… I will give you your life as a prize of war in all the places to which you may go.”

 

Up next: the LORD’s judgments on the nations, beginning with Egypt. (chapters 46-51)

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, days 231 and 232

Aug19

    Day 231 & 232—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading, with more of the book of the history of Israel and prophecy.

NOTE: Sundays and Mondays are posted together.

    Day 231 – 2 Kings 24 – 25, 2 Chronicles 36 (back step into last days of Judah, 4 kings after Josiah, Babylonian captivity, hope from Cyrus)

2 Chronicles 36:1-4 and 2 Kings 24 recaps Josiah’s son, Jehoahaz, becoming king in Judah and reigning for three months. The Pharoah of Egypt overthrew him, took him to Egypt, and made his brother Eliakim king (changing his name to Jehoiakim).

Nebuchadnezzar came. Eliakin/Jehoiakim became his servant for three years, rebelled, and was taken to Babylon in chains. His son, Jehoiachin, was made king. (Egypt came no more to Judah.)

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2 Chronicles 36:5-21, and 2 Kings 25. Jehoiachin reigned for three months, then surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, and he, as well as his family and servants, were carried away into captivity in Babylon.

The king of Babylon made Mattaniah (another son of Josiah) king of Judah and renamed him Zedekiah.  Mattaniah/Zedekiah reigned for eleven years (and did awful things to Jeremiah- see yesterday’s study). He rebelled against Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar came with his army, laid siege to Jerusalem, and breached the walls.  They took Jerusalem, and when Zedekiah tried to escape, they captured him, killed all his sons in his sight, and then put out his eyes.  They took him to Babylon in chains.

And Nebuchadnezzar took the city, burned it, and carried away the rest of the treasures and all the people, leaving only a few of the poorest to look after the land.   He set up Gedaliah (a son & grandson of some of the good men in former King Josiah’s court) as governor.

Gedaliah gave wise advice to the remaining people (remember Jeremiah had come to stay with him). He told them to “Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”  However, a plot among his own men arose, and Ishmael, of the royal family (perhaps wanting to reinstate himself as king) assassinated Gedaliah.   Then, fearing the Chaldeans, all the people and captains of the forces got up and went to Egypt. Now, there was no throne, no king, and no royalty at all left in Judah. 

(NOTE: When we continue in the book of Jeremiah, we’ll learn more details about this time, the prophet’s warnings, and what happened to him.)

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2 Kings 25:27-30.  This book ends with hope.

After Nebuchadnezzar dies, Evil-merodach, the new king in Babylon, “graciously freed Jehoiachin, king of Judah, from prison.” (Remember, this king surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, as Jeremiah had advised, and was taken away – but not in chains.) “He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the other kings with them in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life, he dined regularly at the king’s table, and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.”

(WOW! This almost sounds like what happens when a person becomes saved and a child of the living God!)

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    Day 231 – Habakkuk 1 – 3 (Habakkuk argues with God, God’s sovereignty, faith)

Habakkuk 1. Habakkuk knows Judah has sinned and deserves judgment but asks for revival and complains that God is using a far worse nation – the Chaldeans – to judge them.  He thinks the Chaldeans should be judged.  God says He is using them to judge Judah. No revival. But that the Chaldeans will also be judged.

Habakkuk acknowledges that God is sovereign and righteous and that Judah will not be wholly destroyed.

“Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One?  We shall not die. O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…..”

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Habakkuk 2.  Habakkuk reminds God of how horrible the Chaldeans are (“mercilessly killing nations”). Then, he takes up a post on the wall and waits for God’s answer.

God answers in three ways. 1) He will also judge the Chaldeans. 2)  He lists the character traits of the wicked (his soul is puffed up, not upright) and the righteous (they shall live by their faith).  3) He gives His prophet a list of “woes” coming to the Chaldeans in verses 6-20, including,

a. THEIR becoming plunder,

b. THEIR houses will be taken from them,

c. THEIR labors will not last but also be burned with fire,

d. THEY will drink the cup of God’s wrath and be utterly shamed,

e. THEIR trust in false idols will demonstrate the superiority of the LORD over all gods.

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Habakkuk 3.  Now, the prophet pleads for God’s mercy (“…in wrath remember mercy”),

describes God’s power on Israel’s behalf (“You marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger. You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck.”), and

praises God for His grace and sufficiency (“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on my high places.”).

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 230

Aug17

Day 230—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and prophecy from Jeremiah and Psalms.

    Day 230 – Jeremiah 38 – 40, Psalm 74, 79 (Jeremiah pleads God’s words, is put into a cistern then, rescued, Jerusalem falls, Jeremiah delivered.  Psalms of woe & hope.)

Jeremiah 38. At the LORD’s word, Jeremiah keeps telling the people of Jerusalem to surrender to the Babylonians. They will save their lives, and the city will not be burned. The leaders don’t like this, say it is terrible for morale, and throw the prophet into an empty cistern. (Usually full of water, it’s been emptied during the long siege and has only a few feet of mud in the bottom…which Jeremiah sinks into.) 

Done and dead, they think. But an Ethiopian eunuch serving in the king’s house hears and goes to Zedekiah. He pleads for Jeremiah’s life and is given men and permission to rescue him.  Later, the king secretly sends for Jeremiah. But Jeremiah’s message is the same.  “Surrender to the king of Babylon, and your life will be spared. Stay here, and the city will be burned, and you and yours will die.”  Zedekiah doesn’t want to hear this.

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Jeremiah 39. So, 18 months after the siege begins, the walls of Jerusalem are breached, and the city falls. Zedekiah tries to escape out the back door, but they catch him.  They kill all his sons and officials in his sight and then gouge out his eyes. He is removed to Babylon in chains. A few impoverished, homeless people are left in the land to tend the vineyards and fields.

However, Nebuchadnezzar commands that Jeremiah be freed and allowed to go anywhere he chooses — to Babylon, where he will be cared for, or to stay in the land with the appointed Governor, Gedaliah. Jeremiah decides to live with Gedaliah among the people. 

Before he was released, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah about that Ethiopian eunuch who had seen that he was rescued from the cistern. 

“I will deliver you on that day, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war because you have put your trust in the LORD.      (WOW!)

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Jeremiah 40 gives more details about how Nebuzaradan, the captain of the Babylonian guard, let Jeremiah go free, listing all his choices: Babylon and be well taken care of; Judah and stay with the appointed Governor Gedaliah; or anywhere Jeremiah thought it right to go.  In any choice, he would be free. The Captain then gave him an allowance of food and a present and let him go.  Jeremiah went to Gedaliah and lived with him among the people left in the land.

Many other people who had fled Jerusalem at the siege now trickled back to Gedaliah. But soon, he received a message that the Ammonite king was sending a man named Ishmael to kill him. But the governor ignored the message.

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Psalm 74  begins, “O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?”   

“Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;”   

“They have set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.”

“How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?  Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!”

 

Psalm 79 says, “O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.”   

“How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?  Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your Name!  For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.”

“Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your Name’s sake!”

“Let the groans of the prisoners come before You; according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die.”

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 229

Aug16

Day 229—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and prophecy from Jeremiah.

    Day 229 – Jeremiah 35 – 37 (the Rechabites, scroll burning, Zedekiah warned, Jeremiah in prison)

Jeremiah 35. God uses the obedience of a non-Israelite people to shame his own.

The Rechabites were a Kenite group related to Moses’ father-in-law. They lived within Israel’s borders, and when Nebuchadnezzar attacked, had come to Jerusalem.

Two hundred years earlier, their ancestor Jonadab had commanded them NOT to ever drink wine and to live in tents.  They had wholly obeyed.  When Jeremiah brought them in, at the LORD’s command, and offered them wine to drink, they refused.  God blessed them, not for their abstinence, but for their obedience, and held them up as an example to the disobedient Judahites.

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Jeremiah 36. In a bit of a flashback we see God telling Jeremiah to write down everything He had told the prophet about Israel, Judah, and the nations in one scroll. Jeremiah (in prison) called the scribe, Baruch, and dictated God’s words to him.  Then he told Baruch to go to the temple and read the words to the people, for they were fasting, and perhaps their hearts were more open. “Maybe every one of them will turn from his evil way.”

Baruch obeyed. Then, King Jehoiakim’s officials demanded that Baruch read the scroll to them as well, and he did. They were afraid but said the king HAD to hear it too.  They told Baruch to hide, took the scroll, and had another official, Jehudi, read it to the king.  However, as he read, the king cut off each portion of the scroll and tossed it into the fireplace.  And no one in the room feared that the king was burning the WORD OF GOD.

God then told Jeremiah to dictate another scroll (which he did, because we are reading it). And “many similar words were added to them.”

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Jeremiah 37. We are back in the time of King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed.  And neither this king, his servants, or the people of the land listed to the words of the LORD that He gave to Jeremiah. Nevertheless, Zedekiah asked Jeremiah to PRAY for them.

God, through Jeremiah, told the king that, Nope, nothing will help now.  The Chaldeans WILL fight against the city, capture it, and burn it with fire. “Don’t deceive yourselves saying, “the Chaldeans will surely go away,” for they will NOT go away. For even if you should defeat the whole army who is fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men… they would rise up and burn this city with fire.”

During a break in the fighting, Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to Benjamin to receive the land he had purchased earlier. But the sentry thought he was defecting to the Chaldeans. And although Jeremiah argued he was not, they brought him back, beat him, and imprisoned him.  And he remained in the dungeon many days.

Secretly, King Zedekiah called for him and asked, “Is there any word from the LORD?”

Jeremiah said, “Yes,” and gave him this prophecy. “You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”  Then, Jeremiah begged the king not to send him back to the dungeon lest he die.

Zedekiah ordered him to the court of the guard (better circumstances) and fed him with daily bread until it was all gone in the famine.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 228

Aug15

Day 228—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and prophecy from Jeremiah.

    Day 228 – Jeremiah 32 – 34 (Jeremiah buys land, God’s assurance, future promises, everlasting covenant with David, Zedekiah’s heart & actions)

Jeremiah 32.  During the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the LORD told Jeremiah to buy a field in Benjamin.  (Say what?  Right when we are being attacked & carried away??)  But Jeremiah obeyed the voice of the LORD, bought the field, paid for it, signed the deed, and preserved the legal papers.

Then Jeremiah went to the LORD, saying he knew God was powerful, that nothing was too hard for Him, that He had done great and marvelous deeds for Israel, and that He had now brought disaster on His disobedient people and given Jerusalem into the hands of the Chaldeans.  Jeremiah said he KNEW that what God says, comes to pass, but… um… You said to buy a field, though this land is in the hands of the Chaldeans….  (Basically, he is asking God ‘why?”)

And the LORD answered him, “Behold I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? (repeats Jeremiah’s words).  Yes, I’m giving the city into the hands of the Chaldeans.  Yes, it’s because my people have done so wickedly such abominations.

BUT!!!  “I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I WILL BRING THEM BACK TO THIS PLACE to dwell in safely. They shall be my people and I will be their God.”   “Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.”   “Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah.”

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Jeremiah 33.  Then the LORD promises even greater and FUTURE blessings for his people.  “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

God promises to bring Jerusalem to health and healing, to prosperity and security. He will restore their fortunes and rebuild them. He will cleanse them of all sin and will forgive them of rebellion.  Jerusalem will become “a name of joy, praise, and glory” to God and before all the nations. 

And, fantastically…. “the days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. …I will cause a “righteous Branch” to spring up for David, and HE shall execute justice and righteousness.”   “And this is the name by which Jerusalem will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”

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Jeremiah 34.  Then comes a chapter about Zedekiah, the final king to rule Judah.  Jeremiah was to tell the king, “I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. You shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall go to Babylon.”

For reasons we don’t know but might surmise, King Zedekiah makes a proclamation of covenant with all the people of Jerusalem to set at liberty all their Hebrew male and female slaves. (God’s law was that a Hebrew could only be an indentured servant for 7 years, and at the 7th year, would be freed. But the greedy for wealth and power people had not done that and had kept them in slavery.)

And they obeyed and set them free!  (WOW!!)

BUT…afterward, they turned around and took back the male and female slaves that they had set free and put them into subjection as slaves. (WHAT??)

Then God told them through Jeremiah, “You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes….” “But then you turned around and profaned my name when you took back the male and female slaves.” “Therefore…..I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine.”

“I will give you into the hand of your enemies and to the hand of those who seek your lives.” “…into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you. Behold, I will command and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and burn it with fire.”

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 227

Aug14

    Day 227—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and prophecy.

    Day 227 – Jeremiah 30 – 31 (Bad news, but then glorious news, future, then WAY future)

Jerimiah 30. The promises of God (more than 22!) stand out in this chapter: restoration, return, bonds & yokes broken, end of servanthood to foreigners, salvation, a King, medicine and healing, retaliation against their oppressors, compassion, rebuilding, their position as the people of God.

What a glorious, hopeful message this must have been to the exiles! And a Messianic hope!  “Their Prince shall be one of themselves; their Ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make Him draw near, and He shall approach Me, for who would dare of himself to approach me?, declares the LORD. And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

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Jeremiah 31.  Prophecies of the nation’s restoration are continued in this chapter, both closely future and distant, end-times future.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you.  AGAIN, I will build you and you shall be built, O virgin Israel (What???)  AGAIN, you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.  AGAIN, you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit.”

“For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD…”

“I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD.”

And in the far future… “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, NOT like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke (the law)…”    “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel AFTER THOSE DAYS,  I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD’ for they shall ALL know me, from the least to the greatest.  For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.”

“Behold the days are coming, declares the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD.”    “It shall not be uprooted or overthrown  anymore forever.” (see Revelation 3:12, 21:2)

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 226

Aug13

    Day 226—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and prophecy.

    Day 226 – Jeremiah 26 – 29 (Jeremiah threatened & spared, Zedekiah & Nebuchadnezzar, a false prophet, letter to the exiles)

Jeremiah 26 repeats the message and threat to our prophet from 11 years earlier when God offered the relenting of the disaster if the people would repent. (More recently, there is no such offer.) Jeremiah’s life is/was threatened, but the city officials spare him, listing other prophets whose lives were spared in the days of Hezekiah and Jehoiakim.

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Jeremiah 27. Jeremiah’s message now is to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. As the object lesson to accompany the message, Jeremiah was to make and wear a wooden yoke on his neck.

The message from the Creator of earth and everything in it, “I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, MY SERVANT, (in that he serves God’s plans).  All the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his grandson until the time of his own land comes. Then, many nations and great kings shall make him their slave. 

BUT if any nation or kingdom will NOT serve this Nebuchadnezzar and put its neck UNDER THE YOKE OF THE KING OF BABYLON, I will punish that nation with sword, famine, and pestilence.”   

“But any nation that WILL bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land to work it and dwell there,” declares the LORD.

Then Jeremiah warns the people of Judah and Jerusalem not to listen to false prophets and priests but to submit to Nebuchadnezzar’s yoke.  God promises to bring back the vessels of the House of the Lord when He brings back the exiles…in 70 years. (One year for every Sabbath year they did not honor.)

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Jeremiah 28. In that same year when Zedekiah (the last king to reign), the false prophet, Hananiah spoke against what Jeremiah said, saying instead that the LORD would break the yoke of Babylon and bring back the people in TWO YEARS.  To illustrate his false prophecy, he went to Jeremiah, took the yoke off his neck, and broke it.  

Soon after Jeremiah went to Hananiah with this word from the LORD, “You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar, and they shall serve him.”

“Furthermore, listen Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a LIE. Therefore, behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the LORD.”

Hananiah died in the seventh month.

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Jeremiah 29. Then Jeremiah sends a letter to the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, and all the officials and craftsmen. 

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem.…

” Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters, multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
“When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

Jeremiah 29:5-14

But to those who refused to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, the LORD said…

“Behold I’m sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them because they did not pay attention to my words.”

The LORD trashes the lying words of the false prophets Ahab and Zedekiah. Then the king of Babylon “roasts them in the fire!!!” God also curses the false prophet Shemaiah, and all his descendants, none of whom will see the return from exile…. for speaking “rebellion against the LORD.”