Tag Archive | Jeremiah

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 236 & 237

Aug25

NOTE: Sunday and Monday studies are posted on Mondays.

Day 236 – Reading – Jeremiah 51 – 52

Day 237 – Reading – Lamentations 1 – 2

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Day 236 – Jeremiah 51.

Yes, I’ve learned, this is one of the longest chapters in the Bible!  It ends with, “Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I AM bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.  Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.”

Even though we read of the fall and destruction of Babylon in chapter 50, this one goes over it again. And even as the destruction of Babylon, Judah’s fierce captors, nears their end, God encourages His people. “For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD of hosts…”

“Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her.  (This speaks of the Babylon that captured Judah, but it also has echoes of the Babylon in Revelation 18, the Great, wicked Babylon that will also fall to the joy of heaven.

Jeremiah even names the nations that will conquer Babylon in verse 11. “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.”

“I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for ALL THE EVIL THEY HAVE DONE IN ZION, declares the LORD.”

There are many hints at how the Medes/Persians will attack the “unapproachable” Babylon and conquer it.  The inhabitants will be drunk (Belshazzar’s party), the river Euphrates diverted, and the moat dried up, so attacking soldiers could go under the wall.  Then, like Babylon did to Jerusalem, the tall and mighty walls will come down, and the gates will be burned.  (This happened in Daniel’s time.)

The last couple of paragraphs tell how Jeremiah gave this “book of all the disaster that should come on Babylon,” to Seraiah when he was taken captive to Babylon with the blinded King Zedekiah. 

Jeremiah’s instructions were to “Read all these words, and say, ‘O LORD, You have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.'”  

Then, when he was finished reading it, he was to tie a stone onto the scroll and throw it into the Euphrates River and say, “Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I AM bring upon her, and they shall become exhausted.”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

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Jeremiah 52.

This last chapter is a recap of the fall of Jerusalem.  It was so vital that the account is told FOUR TIMES in the Old Testament.  Here, Jeremiah 39:1-14, 2 Kings 25, and 2 Chronicles 36:11-21.

The conquerors plundered the magnificent Temple of God that Solomon built, and took the articles to Babylon.  Belshazzar would use some of these at his immoral banquet, gloating over victory that he attributed to his gods. (Daniel 5).  He would die holding one of the golden bowls full of wine … while looking at “the handwriting on the wall” telling his doom.

A count of the people of Judah taken into captivity totaled 4,600. (3,023 in the first round, with Daniel and his friends, 832 in the second round with Ezekiel and King Jehoiachin, and 745 in the third and final round, with King Zedekiah.)   

(TO ME, that seems like a small number. I imagined tens of thousands.  That only means that MANY Jews were killed by “sword, famine, and pestilence” as God had said.

Then…. that last paragraph (verses 31-34) tells of an amazing thing.  Thirty-seven years into the exile, King Jehoiachin was taken out of prison by Evil-merodach. The Babylonian king graciously freed him, spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings that were with him in Babylon.  WOW!!!

“So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life, he dined regularly at the king’s table.  His allowance was given to him by the king regularly according to his daily needs … until the day he died.

WHAT??  Why such grace shown to this captive king?  In Judah, he was one of the “evil” kings who did evil in the sight of the LORD.  BUT.  He obeyed in one point.  When God told His people through Jeremiah that they would be kept alive and treated well in Babylon …IF THEY SURRENDERED TO THE INVADING KING AND WENT PEACEABLY, only King Jehoiachin (18 years old) listened and obeyed. (See 2 Kings 24:11-12) It was 37 years, but God honored that promise. 

He always does. 

And it was through King Jehoiachin, a descendant of King David, that Jesus’ step-father, Joseph, descended, giving Jesus the “legal” right to the throne of David. (Matthew 1:12-16)

Hey, obedience matters with God, no matter the sinful life you may have lived before.

(Lord, thank you for this good lesson in my own life. Thank you for showing me the importance of obedience to your Word is. Help me to always choose to obey.)

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Day 237 – Lamentations 1.

  • The verses in these chapters are written in acrostic style, meaning the first letter of each verse begins with the next letter of the alphabet. (a-b-c-d etc.)  There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Chapter three, has three verses for each letter (aaa-bbb-ccc-ddd. etc.)  Of course you can’t see this in an English Bible.)

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Lamentation = loud cries of dismay.   

The entire book of Lamentations is a distressful dirge, marking the funeral of the once beautiful city of Jerusalem.  (Lam. 2:15) “Jerusalem; is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the earth?”

This book keeps alive the memory of the fall of Jerusalem and teaches believers how to handle suffering. Although not stated, Jeremiah is the author.  He was an eyewitness to Jerusalem’s fall. Jeremiah wrote it soon after the city and then the Temple fell, before his forced departure to Egypt. 

This book is read in Jewish synagogues to this day, on the 9th of AB (July/August) to remember the date of Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of the Temple. (Interestingly, it is also the exact date of the destruction of Herod’s temple by the Romans in A.D. 70. So lamentations of both are read aloud.)

  • 1:1 – “How lonely sits the city that was full of people,”
  • 1:4 – “The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate;
  • 1:5b – “the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions;
  • 1:7 – “Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all the precious things that were hers from days of old.
  • 1:8 – “Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she has become filthy;
  • 1:9b – “O LORD, behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!
  • 1:10 – “she has see the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom You forbade to enter…
  • 1:18 – The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against His word;
  • 1:20b – I have been very rebellious…

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Lamentations 2.

  • 2:1 – “How the LORD in His anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth, the splendor of Israel; He has not remembered Hos footstool in the day of His anger.
  • 2:3 – “He has cast down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; He has withdrawn from them His right hand in the face of the enemy;
  • 2:7 – “The LORD has scorned His alter, disowned His sanctuary; He has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces;
  • 2:9 – “Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more; and her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
  • 2:14 – “O daughter of Jerusalem… O virgin daughter of Zion...” “Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity…  but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.
  • 2:19-21 – “Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to Him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.  LOOK, O LORD, and see!  Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?  In the dust of the streets lie the young and old; my young women and my young me have fallen by the sword; You have killed them in the day of Your anger, slaughtering with out pity.

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 (We may hate to read this, hate to see the anger of the LORD in such gruesome details, but such is the hatred and wrath of the LORD for those who forsake HIM, the Living God, and worship man-made  idols. Over and over and over, He pleaded with them to turn from their wicked ways and come back to him. He would forgive, He promised. He would restore, He promised.  But they would not.  And so….)

 

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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 235

Aug23

Day 235 – Reading – Jeremiah 49 – 50

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Jeremiah 49.

The next nation to be addressed is Ammon. (Jordan, today) They, along with Moab, were descendants of Abraham’s nephew, Lot.  They seized the land of the eastern tribes of Israel, Gad, Reuben, and 1/2 of Manasseh when the northern kingdom was taken captive by Assyria. 

Five years after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, he defeated Ammon.  As with Moab, God promised that a remnant of the Ammonites would return to their land, partially under Cyrus, but fully in the Kingdom of the Messiah.

  • Behold, I will bring terror upon you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts, from all who are around you, and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him with none to gather the fugitives.  
  • But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the LORD.”

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Edom is addressed next by the LORD, through Jeremiah.  The Edomites descended through Abraham, as Jacob/Israel’s older twin brother, Esau.  From before birth, there had been contention between these two brothers, then between the two nations.  They lived south of the Dead Sea.  They, too, were defeated by Babylon after Israel went into captivity.  There is NO PROPHECY of a future restoration.

  • “For I have stripped Esau bare; I have uncovered his hiding places, and he is not able to conceal himself.
  • His children are destroyed … and he is no more.

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NEXT is Damascus, which was the capital of Syria.  Nebuchadnezzar conquered it on its way south, before reaching Jerusalem.  Here, many evils against the northern kingdom of Israel were planned. That was the reason for its fall. 

  • “I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-Hadad.”

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Kedar and Hazor (not the one North/west of Galilee) are addressed next.  They were areas in the Arabian desert east of Judah, and descendants of Ishmael.  Nebuchadnezzar conquered them shortly before seizing Jerusalem. 

  • “Thus says the LORD: Rise up, advance against Kedar! Destroy the people of the east! Their tents and flocks shall be taken … their camels led away.   
  • Terror on every side! Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths!   
  • For Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has made a plan against you and formed a purpose against you. 

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Elam was east of Babylon, between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers.  They were subjugated by Babylon, but later incorporated into the Persian forces when Cyrus conquered Babylon.  Its capital was Susa, and it became the center of the Persian Empire under Darius.  They were to be destroyed and scattered to the four quarters of heaven…. to every nation. (There are lots of Persians in the US today.)  

  • I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them … and destroy their king and officials.
  • But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the LORD.”

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Jeremiah 50.

And now, to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans.

God’s judgment focuses mainly on the Persian conquest of Babylon, first by Cyrus, and then later, more violently, near the coming of the Messiah in glory.

  • Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed, Babylon’s images are put to shame, her idols (dung pellets) are dismayed.  Out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation…

Then, Cyrus releases the Jews. 

  • “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. 
  • “Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans… 
  • How the “Hammer of the whole earth” is cut down and broken! 
  • How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
  • Woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment.
  • Declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, VENGEANCE FOR HIS TEMPLE!

 

  • Behold, I am against you, O proud one, declares the Lord GOD of hosts, for your day has come, the time when I will punish you
  • The Proud One shall stumble and fall, … and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all…

 

  • A sword against the Chaldeans,
  • Against the inhabitants of Babylon and her officials and her wise men!
  • A sword against the diviners,
  • A sword against her warriors,
  • A sword against her horses and chariots and her foreign troops,
  • A sword against all her treasures, may they be plundered!
  • A drought against her waters.
  • For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols.

 

  • 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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WHEW!  Yes, God used Babylon to judge His own people, but… they ARE His own people, and He will get vengeance on those who mistreat them. And for His Holy Temple.

What can I learn from today’s reading?  Yes, God may use evil people, companies, and countries to discipline His children, even today, with you and me.  They may not be Babylon, but they may seem like a “hammer” pounding on us, or taking away the things and people we love.  What do do?  Turn, turn to God, humble ourselves, confess our sin, and seek His Face (His will).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 233

Aug21

Day 233 – Reading – Jeremiah 41 – 45

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Jeremiah 41.

We are back in Jeremiah to finish the book in the next few days.  

Remember yesterday, that King Nebuchadnezzar had appointed Gedaliah as governor over the remaining Judeans after the majority of religious and political leaders were deported. 

(Gedaliah’s grandfather was secretary for the good King Josiah, and G’s father was in the group that brought the book of the law to King Josiah when it was found.  G. was a supporter of Jeremiah.)

A group of Judeans related to the Royal family, and led by Ishmael, came to the representative for the Chaldeans and killed him. They also killed all the Judeans who were with him, and all the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

Ah-Oh.  Sounds like an act of war to me.

And just then, a group of 80 men from the old northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria, Shechem, and Shiloh) came bringing offerings to present at the Temple of God. (They obviously hadn’t heard that it had been destroyed!)  Ishmael pretended gladness to see them and welcomed them inside.  But then, he murdered 70 of them and threw their bodies in the cistern.  But TEN of them said, Wait!  We have supplies hidden in the field. Don’t kill us!  So Ishmael didn’t.

Then Ishmael took captive all the people left from the deportation and headed across the Jordan to the Ammonites.

But one of the men with Ishmael, Johanan, saw what he’d done and where he was going and fought against him. Ishmael fled, and Johanan led the people to Bethlehem.  He intended, then, to go to Egypt out of fear of the Babylonians, because they had killed Gedaliah, the governor. They were afraid of retaliation.

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Jeremiah 42.

But there was some reluctance.  All the people and the forces, as well as Johanan, came to Jeremiah. “Pray to the LORD your God for us, for all of this remnant that are left are but a few. Pray that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” They promised that whatever the LORD said, they WOULD DO.

(That was a good start!!)

Jeremiah prayed, and after 10 days, the LORD answered.  Jeremiah brought the answer to Johanan and the people.

  • Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent to plea for mercy,  “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, declares the LORD, 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.
  • BUT, if you say, ‘We will not remain in the land,’ disobeying the voice of the LORD your God, and saying ‘No we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, or be hungry, and will dwell there…
  • THEN the sword you fear shall overtake you there in Egypt. 
  • And famine will follow you.
  • You will die. You will have no remnant or survivor.” 
  • As My anger and wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem… so it will be poured out on you in Egypt.   
  • O remnant of Judah…  DO NOT GO TO EGYPT! I have warned you this day.”

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Jeremiah 43.

The leaders and the people listened, then they said, “Jeremiah, you are telling a lie. God did not say that to you. If we stay here, the Chaldeans will kill us.”

So, Johanan and the other guards took all the people, AND Jeremiah the prophet, and went to the land of Egypt.  They did not obey the voice of the LORD, for which they had asked.

So the LORD said to them,

  • Behold, I will send for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon – my servant – and I will set his throne here. 
  • He will come and strike the land of Egypt. He will burn the temples and break the obelisks.
  • And he shall carry away captive those who are doomed to captivity. 
  • He will totally destroy Egypt.

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Jeremiah 44.

  • “Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves?  Why do you provoke me to anger in the land of Egypt? 
  • Therefore, says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for HARM, to cut off all Judah. 
  • As I have punished Jerusalem with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence…. so I will do to Egypt. 
  • And I will give Pharaoh Hophra into the hands of his enemies, as I gave Zedekiah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.  Period. The End.

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Jeremiah 45.

FLASHBACK to the time when King Jehoiakim was still reigning:  A message to Baruch, the secretary of Jeremiah, back when he wrote all the prophet’s words into a book. Baruch had been complaining, “Woe is me.” God had said to him, “Do not seek great things for yourself.  Seek them not.  I am bringing disaster upon all flesh. But I will give you (Baruch) your life as a prize of war in all the places to which you go.” 

(This was a similar message of hope that God also gave to Abed-Melech, the Ethiopian who had helped keep Jeremiah alive. Jer. 39:16-18)   

(God rewards those who even “offer a cup of cold water to a believer in His Name!” Matt, 10:42)

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(So much turmoil and death in this lesson. The remaining people were confused and scared.  But they DISOBEYED the direct word of the LORD. And will suffer the consequences.  But a few will obey, serve the LORD, and be rewarded.  Only a very few.  LORD, oh, my I obey you always!  Please!)

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 231

Aug19

Day 231 – Reading – 2 Kings 24 – 25 and 2 Chronicles 36

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

2 Kings 24.

The chapters cover Israel’s history during the final days of Judah and Jerusalem.

This chapter begins when King Jehoiakim (first after good King Josiah) reigned.  It also tells of the FIRST of three invasions that King Nebuchadnezzar accomplished against Judah.  Jehoiakim rebelled (stopped paying tribute) and that’s why the Chaldeans came in person (other armies were used against Juda as well).

Nebuchadnezzar bound Jehoiakim in chains, took him, as well as other captives (INCLUDING 14-year-old Daniel, his fiends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) back to Babylon to serve the king. He also ransacked the temple and too part of the vessels of the house of the LORD.  

Jehoiachin (also called Coniah) was king in his place. He reigned three months when Nebuchadnezzar came for the second time to Jerusalem.  Jehoiachin surrendered himself and his family to the Babylonian king who took him back to Babylon captive. 

Nebuchadnezzar also carried off the rest of the treasures in the Temple and the king’s palace which Solomon had made, plus all the officials and mighty men of valor and craftsmen and smiths, 10,000 in all.  The prophet Ezekiel and his wife went to Babylon at this time too. 

Nebuchadnezzar made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, changing his name to Zedekiah. 

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2 Kings 25. 

As we learned yesterday, Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar in his third year of reign, causing the Babylonian king to come with all his army and lay siege to Jerusalem.

On the 9th day of the 4th month of the 11th year of Zedekiah’s reign, the great city of Jerusalem fell to the Chaldeans, who burned and destroyed, taking away the rest of the people of any value. The left only the poorest to tend to the fields and vineyards.  

This chapter gives details of the treasures of gold, silver, and bronze that were taken from the Temple to Babylon, including those great, huge pillars of bronze that Solomon had made. They had to cut them into pieces to be able to carry them.

Did they take the Ark of the Covenant?  It is not mentioned specifically.  Some historians say that Jeremiah had hidden it before the final invasion. 

The Babylonian Captain took the priests as well, city council members, and King Zedekiah (who had tried to escape but was captured.  The king and his sons were killed by Nebuchadnezzar at his headquarters.

Nebuchadnezzar named a former secretary named Gedaliah as “Governor,” not king, to oversee Judah.  But later, some dissidents killed Gedaliah, along with his cohorts. 

Then … all the people and the captains of the forces got up and went to … Egypt, because they were afraid of the Chaldean.  (We learn later, that Jeremiah went too, to comfort the people.)

And then a STRANG HISTORICAL FOOTNOTE:  In the 37th year of the exile, the captive king Jehoiachin of Judah was brought out of confinement by the then king of Babylon, Evil-merodach.  He “graciously freed him, 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 dined regularly at the king’s table. And he was given a regular allowance according to his needs as long as he lived. (!!)

This man, who had surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar like Jeremiah encouraged the kings & people to do, was rewarded.  He is also the king through whom the line of David would pass … right down to Joseph, Jesus’ stepfather.  

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2 Chronicles 36.

This chapter covers most of the above, sometimes in greater detail, with two additional notations.

  1.  The captivity lasted 70 years for a purpose.  It was to give the land rest, for the 70 Sabbath years that the people had refused to give to it … out of greed. 
  1.  Cyrus, the king of Persia – way after Babylon – was spoken by Jeremiah to be the one who would allow and send the captives back to Judah and Jerusalem, by decree.  Anyone who wanted to go, could return.  He said, “The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all His people, may the LORD His God be with him.  Let him go up!”

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WOW.. Those three statements are hugely encouraging. God does NOT forget His promises or His people.  David’s line would continue until the Messiah came  The Jews would be in captivity 70 years.  And they would return (be sent back, and with help!) seventy years later, to rebuild the wall and the Temple.

God is a faithful God.  He means what He says and performs it to the letter.  We can count on that IN OUR OWN TIME.

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 229 & 230

Aug18

NOTE: Sunday and Monday studies are posted on Mondays.

Day 229 – Reading – Jeremiah 35 – 37

Day 230 – Reading – Jeremiah 38 – 40 and Psalm 74, 79

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Day 229 – Jeremiah 35.

This chapter again goes back in time more than 20 years, during the reign of King Jehoiakim, soon after the good King Josiah died, and the evil King Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt. 

In contrast to the Jews’ absolute disobedience toward the LORD their God, these Rechabites showed remarkable obedience to their ancestor for over 400 years!  These non-Jews, related to Moses’s father-in-law, had made a vow not ever to drink wine, to own no land, and to dwell in tents all their lives.  They were nomads living in Israel, peaceably.

But when Nebuchadnezzar first came to Judah, they decided to come up and dwell close to Jerusalem (for protection? Or, to be identified as God’s people?)

When Jeremiah told them to come up to the Temple and have some wine, they refused and told their story. 

The LORD told Jeremiah to remonstrate with Judah in the face of this loyalty, and challenge the Jews to listen and amend their ways … and not go after other gods, but incline their ears to their God.

As for these Rechabites, God told them they would never “lack a man to stand before Him.”  In other words, there would always be a remnant from that family to serve God.  (In Nehemiah 3:14, we see just such a man, working along with the returned Jews, repairing the wall of Jerusalem.)

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Jeremiah 36.

A few years after the above story of the Rechabites’ faithfulness, the LORD told Jeremiah to write down ALL THE WORDS that He had given to him, so far. (Think: the first 35 chapters of this book!  WOW, that’s a lot!  This was done, so the “house of Judah” would be reminded of all the disaster God had planned for them … SO THEY WOUD TURN FROM EVIL, AND GOD MIGHT FORGIVE THEM.

(Doesn’t it twist your heart to see how much God cared for His people, and tried again and again to bring them back to Himself?  He does this today too.  He is slow to anger, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance.” See 2 Peter 3:9 & Exodus 343:6)

Jeremiah called Baruch, his secretary, and dictated all the words of the LORD, while the man wrote it on a scroll. It took about a year.   Then Baruch, at the command of Jeremiah, read the scroll in the Temple. 

Micaiah, the grandson of the secretary, heard all these words and went to the king’s house and into the secretary’s chamber.  All the officials were there, and Micaiah told them the words he had heard when Baruch read the scroll. 

They sent for Baruch and commanded that he “sit down and read it” to them.   When they’d heard the whole thing, they turned to each other in fear.  “We must report all these words to the king!”

They asked Baruch if HE had written the words, or if they had been dictated to him. Baruch answered, “He (Jeremiah) dictated all these words to me, while I wrote them with ink on the scroll.”

“Go and hide,” they said, “you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”  Then they took the scroll to the secretary of the king, and he read it to Jehoiakim in the presence of all the officials..  It was during the winter, and the king had a fire going.  As the scroll was read … King Jehoiakim cut off a section of the scroll and threw it into the fire until the whole thing was read … and destroyed. 

And neither the officials nor the king were afraid, sorrowful, or repentant.  WOW.

So God told Jeremiah to WRITE THE SCROLL AGAIN. 

And concerning the king, his future was dreadful, and he would not have a single descendant to sit on the throne of David.  

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Jeremiah 37.

Jeremiah jumps ahead to the kingship of Zedekiah, another son of Josiah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar had put in place when he took the 3-month reigning King Jehoiachin to Babylon. 

This was before Jeremiah had been put into prison.  It was when the Babylonian army had temporarily ended the siege of Jerusalem to deal with an invading Egyptian army. (They would soon return and destroy Jerusalem.)

Zedekiah had (surprisingly) sent for Jeremiah to pray for him and the people.  But no words of comfort came from Jeremiah. Instead, the LORD said that the Babylonians would return, fight against the city, capture it, and burn it with fire.  WHOA!

Interestingly, while the Babylonians had withdrawn, Jeremiah thought he would go out and visit his hometown in Benjamin.  But at the gate of the city, a sentry seized Jeremiah, accusing him of “deserting to the Chaldeans.” 

Jeremiah denied it, but the guard would not listen to the prophet.  The city officials were enraged.  The beat Jeremiah and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan, the secretary, for it had been made a prison.  He was thrown into the dungeon and remained there MANY days. 

Then King Zedekiah sent for him secretly, asking if there had been any new word from the LORD…. 

“Nope,” said Jeremiah.  You WILL be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” Then Jeremiah asked, “What wrong have I done that you have put me in prison? Please don’t send me back to the dungeon in the house of Jonathan.”

Surprisingly, the king agreed and gave orders for Jeremiah to be held at the court of the guard. AND, that a loaf of bread be given to him daily … until all the bread in the city was gone.

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Day 230 – Jeremiah 38.

Jeremiah kept telling the people the LORD’s compassionate words.  “This says the LORD, ‘He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence … BUT, he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. (Surrender and live.) This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.”

But the city officials said to the king, “LET THIS MAN BE PUT TO DEATH, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them.”

“Behold, he is in your hands,” said the king.

So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes.  There was no water in the cistern, only mud. Jeremiah sank into the mud.

When the Ethiopian eunuch, who was in the king’s palace, heard of that, he went to the king and said, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern. He will die there of hunger.”

“Take 30 men with you and lift Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies,” said the king.

The Ethiopian took rags and clothes and let them down into the cistern to Jeremiah.  “Put these rags between your armpits and the ropes.”  

Jeremiah did that, and they lifted him out of the cistern and kept him in the court of the guard.  Later, King Zedekiah called for Jeremiah and said to him, “If I ask you a question, hide nothing from me.“

Jeremiah: “If I tell you, will you not put me to death. And if I counsel you, you won’t listen.“

“I will listen,” promised the King, “and not put you to death.”

Jeremiah:  ‘If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house will live.”  “But if you do not surrender, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape from their hand.”

Zedekiah: “I’m afraid of the Judeans who have deserted already, let they hand me over and deal cruelly with me.

Jeremiah:  “You shall not be given to them. OBEY NOW the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life will be spared.   But if not…. oh boy will you regret it!!”

Zedekiah:  “Let no one know of these words, or you shall die.“

Jeremiah obeyed and remained in the court of the guard …. until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

(I guess the king did not surrender.)

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Jeremiah 39.

No, the king did not surrender.  He tried slipping out a narrow gate and running for Jericho! (Seriously!)

Jerusalem – the City of Gold, the City of the LORD God, the Holy City where God had put His name – fell to the Chaldeans on the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh (and last) year of Zedekiah’s reign.  And the officials of the Chaldean army came flooding in. 

When Zedekiah saw it, he and his close soldiers slipped out the narrow gate in the king’s garden and ran for their lives toward Jericho that night.   He was heading towards the Arabah wilderness on the other side of the Dead Sea, where David had hid from King Saul those many years ago.

But the Chaldean army pursued and captured him before he got to Jericho.  They took him to Riblah, 230 miles north of Jerusalem, where King Nebuchadnezzar had his headquarters.  And so, Jeremiah’s prophecy came true. King Zedekiah saw the Babylonian king face-to-face and eye-to-eye.

Remember, when the Babylonians took King Jehoiachin off to Babylon (he’d surrendered)? King Nebuchadnezzar had made Zedekiah king of Judah in his place. Zedekiah promised to send tribute to Babylon and did so for a few years. Then he broke his vow and stopped it. 

So, now, Nebuchadnezzar saw him as a traitor, and treated him like one. The Babylonian King killed all of Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes (Oh, what a horrible sight!).  Then the Babylonian put out Zedekiah’s eyes, so the last thing he saw was his sons being massacred. Then he was hauled off to Babylon in chains.

Oh, if only he’d listened to Jeremiah.  But this was God’s plan.

Back in Jerusalem, the Chaldeans set the king’s house afire, and burned the House of the people (the Temple). They broke down the walls of Jerusalem, leaving the city in ruins.  Only the very poor remained to care for the vineyards and fields.

About Jeremiah…. King Nebuchadnezzar told his army captain, “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.”  So the Captain took Jeremiah from prison and sent him home to live among his people.

God also took care of that Ethiopian who’d rescued Jeremiah. “I will deliver him on that day, declares the LORD.  He shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom he is afraid. For I will deliver him on the day the city falls.  I will save him, and he shall not fall by the sword… because he has put his trust in the LORD.”

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Jeremiah 40.

A few more details about Jeremiah’s release are listed here.  The Captain of the guard gave him three choices….

  1. “If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well.
  2. “Or, if not, the whole world is before you; go wherever you want.
  3. “Or you can return to Gedaliah and dwell among your people.

Jeremiah chose option #3, and after receiving an allowance of food and a present, went to live under Gedaliah’s leadership. 

When the captains of the scattered forces of Judah, who had escaped and dwelled in the wild, heard that Gedaliah was governor, they met with him. The governor assured them everything would be okay. “Live on your land, gather the fruits of the field and vine. As long as we serve (pay tribute) to the Babylonian king, all will be well.”

One of the captains later came to Gedaliah, saying the king of the Ammonites had sent Ishmael, his warrior, to kill the governor.  But Gedaliah did NOT believe him, and forbade the captain from going to “taking care of” Ishmael.

(Stubborn Gedaliah! We’ll see tomorrow that Ismael does come … and kill him. (Sigh.)

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Psalm 74. 

Wow, this psalm tells of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. 

  • “Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your heritage!
  • Remember Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.
  • Direct Your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!”
  • All its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
  • They set Your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of Your Name, bringing it down to the ground. 
  • They burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

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Psalm 79.

This psalm also tells of that time.

  • “O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
  • They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
  • They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem…. and there was no one to bury them.
  • “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!

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 228

Aug16

Day 228 – Reading – Jeremiah 32 – 34

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

 

Jeremiah 32.

The first three verses give the setting of this chapter. (Remember, the pieces of the book of Jeremiah jump around a bit – probably the way Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch, put them together.)  It was …. 

  • During the 10th year of Zedekiah’s 11-year reign
  • During the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule
  • During Nebuchadnezzar’s 30-month siege of Jerusalem, about a year before his final takeover
  • While Jeremiah was shut up in prison for “preaching treason” (prophecy of the final siege & exile). 

In the prison cell, Jeremiah received a word from the LORD, saying his cousin Hanamel was going to ask him to buy his field at Anathoth (Jeremiah’s town, about 3 miles north of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin; a Levite city). Jeremiah was the closest relative to Hanamel and had the right to buy the field until Jubilee, when he would return it. It was a way to help out a family member in financial trouble.

And just like that, the man arrived with the offer, so Jeremiah knew it was from God and bought the field. (Yes, from prison, and yes, Jeremiah had the money to do so.)  Seeing it was only one year before Jerusalem would be destroyed and the people taken to Babylon, wouldn’t this seem like an unwise purchase?  Yes. But think of what Jeremiah knew.  The LORD would be returning the people to this land in 70 years.  This dispersion was not to be forever.

Baruch took the deed to the property in the presence of all who were around in the court who witnessed the purchase, and put them in an earthenware jug for safekeeping.  Jeremiah said aloud, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall AGAIN be bought in this land.”

Jeremiah then openly prayed to God.  First, he praised the “great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, and listed the wonderful things He had done for His unworthy people. Then he got to the point.

“Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. What You spoke has come to pass, and You see it. YET, You, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses,” though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans!

And God confirmed it. “Yes, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, and he shall capture it. They shall come and set this city on fire and burn it.  This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight … because of all the evil the children of Israel and Judah have done. 

“But I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger … and bring them back to this place. They shall be my people and I will be their God.   

Behold, just as I have brought all this great disaster … 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, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Negev.  I will restore their fortunes,” declares the LORD.

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Jeremiah 33.

The LORD continues to declare His promises of good to the people (after the capture and exile).  Jeremiah is still in prison, the enemy is still at the gates, all the houses of the people of Jerusalem have been taken apart and stacked as defense against the enemy … and yet God’s word of hope comes to his prophet.

  • “Call to me and i will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil,  BU…
  • I will bring health and healing,
  • I will heal them and reveal an abundance of prosperity and security.
  • I will restore their fortunes,
  • I will rebuild them as they were,
  • I will cleans them from all the guilt of their sin against me,
  • I  will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me,
  • This city shall be to me a NAME OF JOY, A PRAISE, AND A GLORY before all the nations,
  • There again shall be heard the voice of mirth and gladness…
  • the voices of those who sing as they bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
  • I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
  • A righteous branch shall spring up for David and he shall execute justice and righteousness,
  • Judah will be saved; Jerusalem will dwell securely, being called “The LORD is Our Righteousness.”

And God swears to Jeremiah in two more visions, that He WILL DO what He has promised.

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Jeremiah 34.

In this chapter, Jeremiah goes directly to King Zedekiah with a direct word of God, outlining his future. 

  1. God is giving the city to the king of Babylon,
  2. He will burn it with fire.
  3. You, Zedekiah, shall not escape but be captured.
  4. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and face to face and speak to him.
  5. You will surely go to Babylon and die there.

Perhaps because of this (that he would die in peace), Zedekiah, all of a sudden, proclaimed that all the people of Jerusalem should let their Jewish slaves GO FREE. This was part of God’s law that had been neglected. They could only enslave a fellow Jew for six years, and on the 7th year, they must let them go.

Everyone obeyed. All the slaves were set free.  But before they could hardly get their belongings packed, the King reversed his decision.  All the slaves were subjected again to their masters.  HUH??

(This may have been when the Egyptian army approached and the forces of Babylon withdrew from Jerusalem temporarily, and the people of Jerusalem believed that the danger had passed. But this angered the LORD, and He brought the Babylonian army back to the city.  This time to stay till they conquered it.)

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(God is so good to His wayward children. Yes, He must discipline them (and us), but there is always His love present, and when the time is past, he will joyfully welcome them (us) back into the protection and joy of His arms.  Thank You, LORD, for your grace and mercy and the promises you give to us in Your Word!)

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 227

Aug15

Day 227 – Reading – Jeremiah 30 – 31

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

 

Jeremiah 30.

This chapter begins with a wonderful promise to the exiled Jews, and Jeremiah is to write it in a book so it will not be lost or forgotten.

  • “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will restore the fortunes of my people – Israel and Judah,” says the LORD, “and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”

This verse is a brief summary of chapters 30-33. It is a double explanation of both Israel’s return from exile and their final restoration to the land for the Messiah’s Kingdom Rule for 1,000 years. It is meant to encourage.

  • They shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
  • Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make hm draw near…
  • In the latter days, you will understand this.

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Jeremiah 31.

Still speaking of Messiah’s Kingdom, 

  • At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of ALL THE CLANS of Israel and they shall be MY PEOPLE.
  • 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:
  • Again, you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merry makers.
  • Again, you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit.
  • Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations, proclaim, give praise…
  • He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. 
  • 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 … and my people shall be satisfied WITH MY GOODNESS.
  • For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.
  • Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when 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. 
  • 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 be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall ALL know me, from the least to the greatest.
  • I will forget their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.  

What a glorious message Jeremiah was writing in his book for the people of God. It would encourage them and give them hope.  We too have a book from God that tells of His GOODNESS,  His love, His comfort, and His promise that He has forgotten our iniquity and does remember our sin NO MORE.  It’s because of Jesus.  PRAISE HIM!

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 226

Aug14

Day 226 – Reading – Jeremiah 26 – 29

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Jeremiah 26.

Okay, here’s where the chronological timeline gets a bit confused. (The notes and prophesies of Jeremiah were assembled by Baruch, Jeremiah’s assistant, whom we’ll learn about later. They are sometimes out of order.)

The happenings and words of THIS chapter would have been earlier than chapter 25  and way before chapter 24 (Babylon’s first and second deportations of Judeans).   This is when Jeremiah said that God would send for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, against Judah and Jerusalem.

Here, Jeremiah is speaking to them urgently, that Jerusalem WILL become ruins and a curse.   But the religious leaders “poo-pooed” his words and said that Jeremiah should be killed as a false prophet. 

At that time, the LORD still held out a hope, saying that IF the people would repent and obey His Voice … He would relent of the disaster coming.  

The priests and prophets didn’t like what they heard and decided to kill Jeremiah.  BUT … the leading officials of the city came to his rescue, stating that a former prophet had told of Jerusalem’s destruction in the past, and King Hezekiah had not killed him.  Ahikam, a civil leader under Josiah, used his position to free Jeremiah..

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Jeremiah 27.

This chapter is after Nebuchadnezzar’s second deportation of Judeans.  Zedekiah, the final son and king of Judah, is on the throne.  His nephew, Jehoiachin, who had reigned before him, had surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar and been taken into captivity in the second deportation. (He will be the only one of King Josiah’s sons (David’s line) to survive, and later prosper there.)

(NOTE: Daniel was taken in the first deportation to Babylon; Ezekiel went in the second deportation along with Jehoiachin.)

God again tells Jeremiah to give the people an OBJECT LESSON.   He is to take a yoke (used by oxen to pull plows and carts) with the straps, and put them on HIMSELF.  He is to send word to Zedekiah, as well as the kings of the surrounding nations under Nebuchadnezzar’s rule, to come to Jerusalem for his message from God.

The message? 

  • “I, by My great power and outstretched arm, have made the earth, with the men and animals on it, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.  NOW, I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, “my servant.”  All of (you) nations shall serve HIM, HIS SON, and HIS GRANDSON, until the time of his end.
  • “But if any nation will NOT serve this Nebuchadnezzar, and put its neck under the yoke of this king … I will punish that nation with sword, famine, and pestilence.. So don’t listen to the “false voices” that say not to serve him.  IT IS A LIE!
  • And to King Zedekiah of Judah, specifically, ‘Bring your neck under the yoke of this king of Babylon and serve him and his people … AND LIVE.

Then Jeremiah spoke to the priests and people.  “Do not listen to the words of your false prophets who say the vessels of the LORD’s house will shortly be returned.  It’s a lie! Do not listen to THEM.  Serve the king of Babylon … and LIVE.  As for the taken vessels … the rest will be taken by Babylon, there to remain until I (the LORD) bring them back and restore them to this place.”

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(WOW. Those are amazing words. Serve your evil captors.  Why?  Because, for a specific time, they are “servants of God,” designated for your discipline. Submit to the will of the LORD for a time, and LIVE. 

So… why don’t I also obey and submit to the hard times that God uses to discipline ME, and learn from them, and live?  In His time, God will make all things good.)

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Jeremiah 28.

In that same year that Jeremiah did the “yoke” object lesson, there arose a FALSE PROPHET, named Hananiah.  THIS prophet (speaking falsely for God) said, “The yoke” of Babylon would be broken in two years (instead of 70), and the vessels taken would be brought back to the Temple. AND … King Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) and all the exiles who went to Babylon would also be brought back.”

Jeremiah answered facetiously. “Amen! May the LORD do so. May the LORD make the words you prophesied come true!”  HA! 

Then Jeremiah called him a false prophet along with all prophets who said PEACE, when there was NO PEACE.

But Hananiah took the yoke from around Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.  “Thus will the LORD break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from the neck of all the nations … IN TWO YEARS!”  Then he left.

WHOA!  A battle of the prophets!

God told Jeremiah to go to Hananiah and tell him he MAY have broken the wooden yoke, but God is putting an IRON YOKE on the nations, and he will not break that.  And because Hananiah made the people trust in his false words and made the people rebel against the LORD … “This year you shall die.”

In that same year … Hananiah died. 

WHOA. So there, you false prophet!

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Jeremiah 29.

Then Jeremiah sent a letter to all the surviving elders of the exiles and the priests, prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem to Babylon (in the second deportation).  It said…

  • “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile:  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; 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. 
  • “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.
  • “For thus says the LORD: 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, declares the LORD, 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 in exile.

 

 

 

 

     

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 225

Aug13

Day 225 – Reading – Jeremiah 23 – 25

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Jeremiah 23.

“The LORD is my shepherd. I shall not want (have any needs).  (Think of the following words in David’s Psalm 23, describing the Lord Jesus Christ.) He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still (peaceful) waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  Even though I (will) walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me ALL the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

And now, in Jeremiah 23, see what God says about the “shepherds” who were supposed to look after and care for the “sheep” of Israel, but didn’t.

  • “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!
  • You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them.  Behold, I will attend to YOU for your evil deeds,” declares the LORD.

The “bad” shepherds were the false leaders in Israel who failed in their duty to take care/protect/teach the flock of God.  They included the kings, prophets and priests.  

  • “Then I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them.  
  • I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
  • I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall ANY be missing,” declares the LORD.

After the exile, God will bring Judah back from Babylon to their homeland.  Men like Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah will be like good shepherds caring for them.

In a fuller sense, in the end times, the Great Shepherd, Jesus, will restore all His people to their land. This has yet to happen.

  • “The days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In His days, JUDAH WILL BE SAVED, and ISRAEL WILL DWELL SECURELY.

Meanwhile, God’s heart is broken in him … for the land is full of adulterers, and the (formerly green) pastures of the wilderness are dried up.  Both prophet and priest are UNGODLY.  “EVEN IN MY HOUSE I HAVE FOUND EVIL!”  “And from the prophets of Jerusalem UNGODLINESS has gone out into all the land.”

  • “BEHOLD, the storm of the LORD! Wrath had gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.”
  • Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?  Do I not fill heaven and earth? 
  • “You false prophets and seers (evil shepherds) … “I will surely lift you up and cast you away from My presence, you and the city that I have given to you and your fathers.  I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.”

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Jeremiah 24.

Jeremiah received a vision, then a word from the LORD explaining the vision. This happened AFTER King Nebuchadnezzar’s second attack, and his carrying King Jeconiah (Jehoiachin, Coniah – this king had several names!), back to Babylon (alive) along with his mother, officials, craftsmen, and metal workers.  

Jeremiah’s vision showed TWO BASKETS OF FIGS in front of the Temple.  One basket had VERY GOOD FIGS; the other had VERY BAD (rotten) FIGS.

The LORD:  “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

Jeremiah: Figs; very good figs and very bad figs.

The LORD: “I will regard as “the good figs” the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place. I will set my eyes on them for good, and build them up, and plant them, and give them a heart to know that I am the Lord. They shall be my people and I will be their God. For they will return to me with their whole heart.”

The LORD continues.  “But I will treat Zedekiah, king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem, who remain, and those who fled to Egypt … “as the very bad, rotten figs.”   I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places I shall drive them.  I will send sword, famine, and pestilence on them until they are utterly destroyed.”

WOW.  This reminds me of Jesus separating the sheep and goats on the Last Day, one to eternal life, and the other one to eternal punishment. Matthew 25:31-46

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Jeremiah 25.

This chapter takes a few steps backward, to the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim in Judah, and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign in Babylon.  For 23 years, Jeremiah had been predicting this, but the people had not listened, nor turned from their evil ways.

And so … as prophesied … the Lord was going to send for Nebuchadnezzar “His servant” against all this land.  “I will devote it to destruction, and make it a horror, a hissing, a desolation.   This whole land will become a ruin and a waste, and you will serve the King of Babylon SEVENTY YEARS.”

There it is! 

But … “After seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their iniquity.“

Then figuratively, God gave to Jeremiah His “cup of wrath.”  He was to go to all the nations to which God would send him and MAKE THEY DRINK FROM THE CUP. 

So, Jeremiah took the cup and went …

  • to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, 
  • to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all the mixed tribes there, 
  • to all the land of Uz and the Philistines, 
  • to Edom, Moab, and Ammon,
  • to Tyre, Sidon, Dedan, Tema and Buz, 
  • to the kings of Arabia and the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert, Zimri, Elam, Media, 
  • and to ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD on the face of the earth. 
  • And finally,  to the King of Babylon who SHALL drink. 

And the LORD said, “I begin to work disaster at the city THAT IS CALLED BY MY NAME, and shall you, Babylon, go unpunished? No, for I am summoning a sword against ALL the inhabitants of the earth … ALL FLESH.”

And a special disaster for the false shepherds and lords of the flocks. No refuge. No escape.

WOW.  The LORD is really raging.  Just think how it will be AT THE END OF THE AGE, when Jesus comes, and the world goes into the Great Tribulation before the final Day of the Lord, the destruction of evil!  PRAISE GOD!

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(LORD, Thank you for the promise of Eternal Life through Jesus, the great Shepherd and the eternal King. Keep my heart turned wholly towards YOU. Help me to be obedient to your Word and to those who speak Your Words.)

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 222 & 223

Aug11

NOTE: Sunday and Monday studies are posted on Mondays.

Day 222 – Reading Jeremiah 10 – 13

Day 223 – Reading – Jeremiah 14 – 17

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

DAY 222 – Jeremiah 10 – 13.

In this book, Jeremiah prophesies God’s coming judgment on Judah for their unrepentant sin, often in horrifying detail.  He also foretells their return to the land and the final millennial restoration under the rule of the Messiah-King.  Jeremiah and/or the people pray for mercy, but God’s answer is mostly “Do not pray for them.” (In other words, God’s mind was made up. They had gone too long without remorse. Judgment WILL come.

Also, in Jeremiah, there are sections where God speaks directly to Jeremiah, telling him to do something, which is often a “picture” of what will happen to Judah.  Some instructions are difficult, as when the LORD told Jeremiah he was NOT to take a wife or have children.  Farther along in the book, Jeremiah will endure much suffering for the Word of the LORD’s sake.

Jeremiah 10.

The prophet compares the ultimate LORD God with the idols of the nations.

IDOLS:  “A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe BY THE HANDS OF A CRAFTSMAN. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it cannot move. Their idols are like SCARECROWS IN A CUCUMBER FIELD!  They cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk!  DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THEM!  They cannot do evil… OR good!

THE LORD;  “There is none like you, O LORD: You are great, and your name is great in might.  Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms, THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU!”

IDOLS:  “They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but WOOD!  Beaten silver… and gold…  They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their “clothing” is violet and purple; they are ALL THE WORK OF SKILLED MEN!”

THE LORD:  “BUT THE LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King.  At HIS wrath the earth shakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.”

Jeremiah then shifts into the words the Israelites will speak when the invaders attack – their despair over their homes destroyed and their children killed.

In ending the chapter, Jeremiah pleads that God’s terrible fury would be poured out on the attackers. He understood Judah must be punished, but prayed for mercy and moderation for them.  

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Jeremiah 11.

God tells Jeremiah to remind the people of the “Covenant” He made with them when he brought them out of the “iron furnace of Egypt;” the blessings and curses He would bring depending on how they obeyed His law.   They had confirmed that, but had quickly strayed from their promise.  “Everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart.”  Hence, the coming disaster that they cannot escape.

“Let them go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings.”

And to Jeremiah, “Do NOT pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble!”  WOW!

Jeremiah continued to tell the people of God’s fierce judgment.  Some men from the Levite town of Anathoth devised schemes to kill him for his prophesy. Jeremiah went to the LORD.   God assured Jeremiah that they would  “get theirs” when when the time came. “Behold I will punish them. I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth.” 

(Also re-read God’s strong promise to Jeremiah in chapter 1:8, 17-18)

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Jeremiah 12.

In this chapter, Jeremiah complains about the wicked and treacherous prospering. (Maybe about those who had threaten him.)

God answers Jeremiah by listing all the ways that Judah has failed HIM, forsaken and hated HIM, destroyed HIS vineyard and pleasant land…  

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Jeremiah 13.

In this chapter, God gives Jeremiah a weird task to do, one that, if taken literally, involves a LONG TRIP.  Jeremiah is to buy a linen loincloth (equivalent of a pair of underwear) and put it on, but not to take it off to wash it. 

Jeremiah obeyed.

Then God told him to go to the Euphrates River (500 miles away!!), dig a hole and hide it there between some rocks. 

Jeremiah obeyed.

After many days, the LORD told him to go back to the Euphrates and dig up the loincloth.

Jeremiah obeyed, and reported that the loincloth was “spoiled” and “good for nothing.” 

WEIRD set of instructions, right?  But God said it illustrated how close Israel had been to Him, that they were His people and He, their God.  But they would not remain there, but stubbornly followed after other gods to worship them.  And so…. the prophesied long stay, “buried” so to speak in Babylon, was to spoil their pride.

Next, Jeremiah is to tell ALL the people, from the king who sits on the throne (Jehoiachin), the priests, and prophets, to the common inhabitants of Jerusalem, that they will be like “full wine jars” which will be dashed against each other and destroyed … when the invasion comes. 

When they all ask, “Why is this coming upon us?” tell them that it is “for the greatness of your iniquity” and “you have forgotten God and trusted in lies.”

Then God asks a question that goes back to the Illustration of the loincloth. “WOE to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?”

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DAY 223 – Jeremiah 14 – 17.

Jeremiah 14.

In a time of drought in Judah, Jeremiah pleads for mercy.  After stating how horrible it’s getting without water, he prays to God.

“O You, Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of trouble….”  Don’t be a stranger in a time of trouble.  “You, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name;  Do not leave us.”

But the LORD answered Jeremiah like this,

“Do not pray for the welfare of this people! Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.  But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.” 

WHOA!  How does it feel for God to say NOT to pray for someone?

Jeremiah pleads for the people, because false prophets have deceived them.  But God says HE did not send those prophets, and they will be punished too.  But so will the people.  They would have known that the prophets were false if they’d stayed close to Him.

Still, Jeremiah pleads to God for the people.

“We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You. Do not spurn us, for Your name’s sake; do not dishonor Your glorious throne; remember and do not break Your covenant with us.  Are there any among the false gods of the nations THAT CAN BRING RAIN?  Or can the heavens GIVE SHOWERS?  Are You not He, O LORD our God?  We set our hope on You, for You do all these things.”

Wow, what powerful, persevering prayer!!

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Jeremiah 15.

God’s answer to Jeremiah’s intercession,

“Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!

WOW. Double WOW.

God will not relent of the 1) pestilence, 2) sword, 3) famine, and 4) captivity “because of what Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem. (2 Kings 21:1-18, 23:26, and 24:3-4)  “I AM weary of relenting.”

Jeremiah goes through a time of self-pity and protests about staying clear of those wicked men and remaining faithful to God. (He truly loved God’s word, a joy and delight to him.) But why wouldn’t God answer his prayers? 

And God reprimanded him.  “If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you will be as My mouth. I will make you, to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but you shall prevail, for I am with you to save you and deliver you.”

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Jeremiah 16.

When God commands Jeremiah NOT to take a wife or have children, it was a mercy. God reminds His prophet that the wives, sons, and daughters who are there will die of disease but not be buried, they will perish by the sword and famine, and beast will eat their bodies.  God has taken away PEACE from the land. He will silence the voice of mirth and gladness.

When the people ask WHY?, Jeremiah is to tell them, “Because your fathers have forsaken Me and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them and have forsaken Me and have not kept my law.  AND YOU HAVE DONE WORSE THAN YOUR FATHERS.  And so…… I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known.  And there … you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you NO FAVOR.

“I will bring them back … But first, I will doubly repay their iniquity and sin … for their detestable idols and for filling my land with their abominations. 

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Jeremiah 17.

God continues listing the reasons for such drastic judgment on Judah.

CURSED is the man who trusts in man … he’s like a shrub in the parched desert.

BLESSED is the man who trusts in the LORD … he’s like a man planted by the water, green and fruitful.

“I the LORD search the heart and the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

Then the LORD sends Jeremiah to the kings of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem to tell them to KEEP THE SABBATH HOLY. This had been a major sin for Israel, for all the 490 years from the first king until their captivity.  Not only had they neglected and desecrated the Sabbath Day, they had ignored the Sabbath Year.  Their 70 years of captivity would give the land rest for all those Sabbath Years they had missed.  (When they did return from captivity, special emphasis was put on observing Sabbath.)

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(We saw Jeremiah as a “human” today as well as a faithful prophet.  He balked at a few of God’s judgments and prayed to change them, but in the end, he relented.  He obey strange and dangerous instructions and got harassed and persecuted for them.  But God promised He would always be with Jeremiah.  Jeremiah was faithful to give out God’s message.  HOW faithful am I?)