Jeremiah for You and Me

By John Iles

Jeremiah for You and Me is a non-technical explanation and application of the Bible book of Jeremiah. It is written with "the person in the pew" in mind. It can be used as an initial introduction to the book by the student who wishes to go on to a more detailed study.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781446757666

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Copyright © John Arthur Iles 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.

Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, published by HarperCollins Publishers © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

First published 2022

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-4467-5766-6

Contents

Chapter

1. The Call (Jer.1:1-19)

2. Setting Out the Problem (Jer.2:1-3:5)

3. A Call to Repentance (3:6-4:4)

4. Judgment Announced (Jer.4:5-31)

5. Forgiveness Impossible (5:1-31)

6. Warnings Ignored (6:1-30)

7. Temple Abuse (7:1-8:3)

8. A Sad Situation (8:4-9:26)

9. Idolatry and Covenant (10:1-11:17)

10. The Patience of God (Jer.11:18-12:17)

11. Long and Painful Cleansing (13:1-27)

12. The Point of No Return (14:1-15:9)

13. Despair and Reassurance (15:10-21)

14. Learning the Hard Way (16:1-17:13)

15. A Prayer for Vindication (17:14-18)

16. Keep the Sabbath (17:19-27)

17. Pottery Lessons (18:1-19:13)

18. A Job for Life (19:14-20:18)

19. A Message About Kings (21:1-23:8)

20. Lying Prophets (23:9-40)

21. A Vision of Figs (24:1-10)

22. The Judge of all the Earth (25:1-38)

23. Life or Death (26:1-24)

24. Submission and Rebellion (27:1-29:32)

25. God’s Long-term Plans (30:1-31:40)

26. Investing in the Future (32:1-44)

27. The LORD is Faithful (33:1-26)

28. Liberty (34:1-22)

29. Obedience (35:1-19)

30. The Indestructible Word (36:1-32)

31. Hearing and Doing (37:1-39:10)

32. The LORD’s Blessings (39:11-40:12)

33. Authority Flouted (40:13-41:15)

34. Back to Egypt (41:16-43:13)

35. Continuing in Idolatry (44:1-30)

36. Encouragement (45:1-5)

37. Judgment on the Nations (46:1-49:39)

38. Babylon (50:1-51:64)

39. Epilogue (52:1-34)

1. The Call (Jer.1:1-19)

Jeremiah’s Times

Jer.1:1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

Anathoth was one of the cities assigned to the descendants of Aaron the priest (Josh.21:13, 18). Jeremiah would have grown up among priests and would have been well aware of the seriousness of sin and what rituals were required to restore and maintain the nation’s relationship with the LORD. The shortcomings of the nation would have been obvious to him.

But what qualified him to be a prophet was that the word of the LORD came to him (1:2). The LORD spoke to Jeremiah (GNB) in such a way that he knew what the LORD wanted him to say and he knew that he must say it (cf. 20:9).

It was essential that he heard the LORD’s word because he prophesied for about 40 years through the reigns of five kings. The circumstances changed throughout those years and the details of the message had to change too.

Josiah reigned from 638-608 BC. About eighty years before he came to the throne, the Assyrians had captured Samaria and taken the people of the northern kingdom of Israel into exile (2 Kings 18:9-12). Josiah reigned in Jerusalem over the southern kingdom of Judah.

In the eighth year of his reign when he was only sixteen years old, he set about reforming the religion of Judah by destroying the idols and priests of Baal (2 Chron.34:1-7). But the moral state of the country was dire. It may be that chapters 1-6 of Jeremiah describe that state. It was not until the eighteenth year of his reign, when Jeremiah had been prophesying for five years (1:2) and the Book of the Law was found in the temple, that Josiah set about moral reform (2 Chron.34:8 to 35:19).

Josiah was killed in battle (2 Chron.35:20-27) and was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz (aka Shallum Jer.22:11). He reigned for only three months before being taken into captivity in Egypt (2 Chron.36:1-3). The brevity of his reign is no doubt the reason he is not mentioned here.

Pharaoh Neco made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king, and renamed him Jehoiakim (2 Chron.36:4-5). Jehoiakim (607-597BC) rejected the reforms that his father had made and turned to idolatry (2 Kings 23:37)). He rebelled against Babylon (2 Kings 24:1) and was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (2 Chron.36:6). Jeremiah had foretold that Jehoiakim would die a violent death in Jerusalem (Jer.22:18-19), and elsewhere it is simply recorded that Jehoiakim slept with his fathers (2 Kings 24:6). Perhaps he was released and allowed to return home.

Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin became king and followed his father in idolatry. He was also known as Jeconiah (1 Chron.3:16) and Coniah (Jer.22:24). He reigned for about three months before being taken into captivity in Babylon (2 Chron.36:9-10). As with Jehoahaz, Jehoiachin is not mentioned here.

Zedekiah, Josiah’s youngest son, became king and reigned for about eleven years (597-587BC). He tried to throw off the Babylon yoke by making an alliance with Egypt. The Babylonians’ response resulted in the captivity of Jerusalem (Jer.1:3). Zedekiah’s sons were killed in front of him, then his eyes were put out and he was taken into captivity in Babylon (2 Kings 25:1-10). The temple was burned and the city walls were broken down.

Jeremiah passed on the word of the LORD to the rulers, the priests, the false prophets and the people. In most cases that word was rejected. Sometimes the response was violent treatment of Jeremiah. But for forty years the prophet remained faithful to the LORD and His word.

God’s Appointed Man

1:4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. 

The LORD formed [Jeremiah] in the womb. (1:5) He made sure that, as the foetus developed, the body and brain developed into the person that God wanted Jeremiah to be.

Even before that began, the LORD knew him. To God Jeremiah was not just one of a crowd. The LORD had His eye on him to ensure that he would be suitably prepared for the work ahead. With that in mind He consecrated Jeremiah. God set him apart to arrange that his birth, upbringing, education and experiences would fit Jeremiah for the task to which, even before his conception, the LORD had appointed him. That task was to be a prophet, not only to Judah but to the nations. When the time came for the work to begin, the LORD said, for Jeremiah’s benefit, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms … (1:10).

The prophet did not come to these conclusions by looking back on his life and deciding that that was what the LORD had done. Before he began the work the word of the LORD came to [him] (1:4). Jeremiah knew by a supernatural revelation that he was a prophet by divine appointment. He would need that confidence when he encountered the hostility of his own people (1:17-19).

God’s Word

1:6 Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth. 7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD." 9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

Moses’ excuse had been that he had never possessed the gift of oratory (Ex.4:10). Jeremiah’s excuse was youthful inexperience (1:6). At least his reluctance shows that he did not think of himself as exactly what God needed to put things right. God’s reply confirmed that (1:7). Nothing of all Jeremiah’s ministry was to be of him but would be of God.

As the young son of a priest, Jeremiah would be confronting people more experienced and influential than himself and would have to face their hostility. But the LORD assured him, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you (1:8). As events would show, that did not mean that Jeremiah would not suffer but that nothing that they did would prevent him from fulfilling his appointed task.

Jeremiah would not personally destroy or build nations and kingdoms (1:10). What he would say would be the LORD’s words (1:9). Since God achieves His will by speaking (Gen.1; Isa.55:10-11), whatever Jeremiah predicted would happen regardless of how unlikely it might seem.

God’s Purpose

1:11 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see an almond branch. 12 Then the LORD said to me, You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.

13 The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north. 14 Then the LORD said to me, "Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. 16 And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.

The LORD showed Jeremiah two visions for two reasons. One was that seeing visions would confirm to Jeremiah that he was a real prophet. That is probably why the LORD told Jeremiah, You have seen well. The second reason was in the message of the visions themselves. Coming as visions rather than simply in words, their meaning would remain with Jeremiah for the rest of his life.

He was shown an almond branch (1:11). The almond was the first tree to bloom and bear fruit after being dormant through the winter. It was a symbol of wakefulness. Also, the Hebrew words for almond and for watching (1:12) sound similar. The purpose of the vision was to give the prophet the assurance that when the fulfilment of a prophecy was delayed, he could be certain that the LORD would make sure that it would come.

Jeremiah was then shown a boiling pot (1:13), an eastern symbol of raging war. He saw the pot somewhere in the north, but he could see its open top, evidently facing southward. It would have appeared as if its boiling contents were about to be poured out to flow south through Canaan.

This vision expressed the underlying message of all Jeremiah’s prophecies. The LORD would punish Judah’s idolatry (1:16). He would achieve that by sending the Babylonians, which consisted of many tribes, to invade Judah (1:15). Although Babylon was to the east of Judah, their armies were prevented by the desert from marching due west. They would follow the Mesopotamian valley northwest then turn south and so enter Canaan from the north (1:14). They would rule over the whole of Judah, even dictating what went on in Jerusalem (1:15).

God’s Strength

1:17 But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. 18 And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you."

The LORD would make sure that His word was fulfilled. But Jeremiah could not simply sit back and wait for God to act. He must immediately get on with warning God’s people of the consequences of their idolatry and give them the opportunity to repent. The message would not be popular and reactions to it would sometimes be frightening. The only way for the prophet to avoid becoming ineffective through fear was to have absolute confidence in the word of the LORD and proclaim it faithfully.

If he did that, he would experience God-given strength (1:18). The LORD was making him invulnerable against the kings … officials … priests, and … people … He would be like a city perfectly protected against an attack, and like a pillar, not made of mud-brick, wood or stone as was usual, but of iron. It would be as if he were completely surrounded by walls of bronze. He would certainly be attacked (1:19), but with the LORD on his side he would not be prevented from finishing the task.

Chosen, Called and Faithful

Jeremiah’s experience was not unique. David knew that the LORD had made him (Psa.139:13-16). He knew that the days of his life had been mapped out for him even before his life had begun. Jesus told His disciples that He had chosen them and appointed them to bear fruit that lasts (John 15:16). The apostle Paul knew that God had set [him] apart before [he] was born with the purpose that Paul would preach Him among the Gentiles (Gal.1:15-16).

Every Christian has been chosen in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph.1:4). God’s purpose in choosing us is that we should live holy and blameless lives. In addition, every true believer has a gift (1 Cor.12:4-7) to be used for the common good. Through that gift each member is able to make a contribution to the life, worship and work of the Church.

Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, King of kings and Lord of lords will conquer all evil, and those who share in His victory are those who are called, chosen and faithful. (Rev.17:14)

2. Setting Out the Problem (Jer.2:1-3:5)

First Love

2:1 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the LORD."

Jeremiah was sent first, not to any particular offender but to Jerusalem, the centre of the whole nation, its religion and government. The LORD remembered the love they had for Him at first (2:2). They had been devoted to Him in their youth, when He brought them out of Egypt (Hos.11:1). They had shown their love by following Him, through Moses’ leadership, from the plenty of Egypt into the barren wilderness.

The LORD had loved them. He demonstrated this by immediately providing for their needs even when through lack of trust and of knowing Him they murmured and complained (Ex.15:23-25; 16:2-4; 17:1-6).

The LORD protected them. Just as the first fruits of the harvest were not to be eaten or used by the farmer but set apart and given to God (Deut.18:4), so Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest. (2:3) The LORD brought disaster upon those who ate of it, that is of the fruit that was Israel. This happened to the Amalekites (Ex.17:8-15).

The point is that what God remembered they had forgotten. This is a human failing. The purpose of the annual feasts, especially of the Passover, was to provide a regular reminder of what God had done for them and how much they depended on Him. But their forgetting was not accidental. As Jeremiah’s preaching goes on to show (2:4-8), it was a deliberate turning away from the LORD.

Forgetting is a human failing. The Lord Jesus instituted His supper with the intention that bread and wine should be taken in remembrance of [Him] (1 Cor.11:24-25). But the church in Ephesus abandoned the love [they] had at first (Rev.2:4). The word used indicates a deliberate act of dismissal. Perhaps they put doctrinal correctness (Rev.2:2b) before the harder task of loving their neighbour.

Becoming Worthless

2:4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the LORD: "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? 6 They did not say, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?’ 7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. 8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.

Jeremiah continued to speak the word of the LORD, not to Judah alone but to the whole nation, to the house of Jacob (1:4), the twelve tribes. God had rescued them from slavery, led them through the wilderness and provided for them there. So what wrong (1:5) had He done that they could possibly complain about?

They forgot Him and all that He had done (1:6) and went after worthlessness. They worshipped gods that were no gods and which gave no return on what was spent in their worship. That began with the worship of the golden calf that Aaron made (Ex.32).

The LORD brought the next generation into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. (1:7) This was the LORD’s land (Lev.18:24) but they defiled it by their idolatry and its associated immorality. They continued to turn their backs on God. The priests did not seek the LORD on behalf of the people (1:8). They were supposed to teach the law (Lev.10:11) but they did not know it themselves. Those in authority who should have set an example for the people to follow, broke God’s laws. The prophets passed on the worthless pronouncements of Baal. This is the story of the human race:

Rom.1:21-23 Although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Christians are not completely free from this tendency. John urged his readers not to love the world or the things of the world (1 John 2:15-17). He was writing of a world under the control of the evil one. The temptation is to seek to satisfy one’s physical and emotional needs by loving that world, that is by following its ways. But such love is contrary to loving God. The ways of the world are not God’s ways. The things of the world do not last, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

The people of Israel became worthless. The effect of that was first demonstrated when they should have entered Canaan, but they did not have the courage to do so (Num.13:25-33). That generation died in the wilderness. By continuing to forget the LORD the nation went on suffering defeat again and again. Eventually they went into exile to be servants to other nations.

Jesus told His disciples that if they did not remain in close fellowship with Him, they would be unable to bear fruit (John 15:5), the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22-23). Unless we are strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might we are unable to stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph.6:10-11). It is when His strength is made perfect in [our] weakness (2 Cor.12:9) that we are able to serve Him effectively.

The Charge

2:9 "Therefore I still contend with you, declares the LORD, and with your children's children I will contend. 10 For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing. 11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

The LORD had summoned their forefathers to appear before His judgment throne to answer His charge of unfaithfulness (2:9). He was issuing the same summons to the present generation and would continue to do so to succeeding generations that were unfaithful to Him.

He challenged them to go from west to east and examine carefully every nation (2:10-11). They would fail to find one that had changed its gods, even though they were mere helpless idols. But His people had changed their glory for that which does not profit. The LORD was their glory, the One who, if they were faithful to Him, would make them respected and honoured by the world. They had left Him for idols that could do nothing, the worship of which would bring shame and disgrace. The prophet would speak of that idol worship as the shameful thing which had devoured all for which our fathers laboured, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. (Jer.3:24).

David wrote, The heavens declare the glory of God (Psa.19:1). God’s people had been unmoved by that display of glory. In response the LORD calls upon the heavens to be appalled … shocked … utterly desolate … (2:12) To be desolate has the sense of being dried up. It is as if God is calling for that display of glory to be hidden in mourning for Israel’s offence.

The nation had committed two crimes (2:13). They had forsaken the LORD who was like a river constantly flowing with fresh, pure, life-giving water (Psa.36:9). Then they had attempted to create their own water supply which proved to be a complete failure.

Creating a cistern involved boring down through the earth for as much as 7 metres (about 23 feet) to the bedrock. A pear-shaped cavity was then laboriously cut out of the rock to collect the rainwater as it drained through the soil. It was as if Israel had done all this only to find that the cistern leaked. All the time that river of pure water was constantly flowing within their reach.

The problem for the LORD’s people and for so many is that to benefit from that life-giving river demands a reverent fear of God that leads to obedience:

Prov.14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death

If they had lived lives of obedience to God, they would have passed the experience of that source of life on to others, in particular to succeeding generations:

Prov.10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life

Slavery

2:14 "Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant? Why then has he become a prey? 15 The lions have roared against him; they have roared loudly. They have made his land a waste; his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant. 16 Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head.

17 Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way? 18 And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates? 19 Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

The Assyrians had attacked and torn them as lions do their prey. The northern kingdom of Israel had suffered the most. That land was then a waste and his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant. (2:15) God’s people had also suffered from the Egyptians who had shaved the crown of [Israel’s] head (2:16) bringing shame and disgrace on the nation. What had happened could be compared to the effect of the raids of the Midianites in the time of Gideon (Judg.6:3-5). They had been robbed of their produce, flocks and herds.

Why had Israel "become a prey?" Slaves, being considered fair game, were treated like that. Was Israel a slave? Had he fallen unavoidably into slavery because of his father’s debt? Or was he the son of a slave and so a slave for life? The answer is a most emphatic No! Israel was the LORD’s firstborn son (Ex.4:22) and He had set him free from Egyptian slavery (2:20a). How then had he become enslaved? He had brought it upon himself by forsaking the LORD [his] God and going his own way (2:17).

Forsaking the LORD is not only worshipping idols by engaging in their rituals and immorality. It includes seeking help from the heathen (2:18) instead of relying upon the LORD. For Israel it meant seeking life-giving help from the waters of the Nile or from the waters of the Euphrates instead of depending upon the LORD, the fountain of living waters (2:13). If they had feared the LORD, they would have known His unlimited power and recognised and acknowledged all that He had done for them. But the fear of the LORD was not in them (2:19), and they had forsaken Him. They had done so in the time of Hosea (Hos.7:14) and of Isaiah (Isa.30:1-2). They were about to do it again (2:18; 37:7) and they would suffer again (2:19).

The apostle Paul expressed astonishment that the Christians of the churches in Galatia, having responded to God’s gracious call, were deserting Him to follow a different gospel which was no gospel (Gal.1:6-7a). They were turning from simply believing in what Christ had done to works of the law (Gal.3:2). They were observing the festivals of Judaism (Gal.4:10) and being circumcised (Gal.5:2) as if trusting Christ was not enough.

Down through the centuries the Church has been troubled by the addition of observances and works to the gospel. Even attending church services, celebrating communion and having a daily devotional time, all intended to be helpful, can be made to seem essential to salvation. God appeals through the apostle to all Christians:

Gal.5:1  For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Abandonment

2:20 "For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, ‘I will not serve.’ Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore. 21 Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

22 Though you wash yourself with lye and use