The Call for Judah to Avoid the Wrath of God
4: 5-31

During the reign of Josiah

God’s near historical judgments are inevitable and Jeremiah senses this. Here we have a picture of impending disaster. Flight to the protection of the walled cities; terror and dismay spread over the land; the enemy swoops down on the doomed country; the prophet’s grief at the horror of it all, particularly as it is caused by the people’s continuous rebellion; a graphic vision of the earth waste and void reeling under God’s anger; Tziyon cries out in distress as the Babylonian invaders destroy Yerushalayim.

Given the reality of the foe from the north, remarkably little is said in this segment, or in the first half of Yirmeyahu for that matter, regarding military policies or decisions. More than that, the readers are not invited to engage in a political or social analysis of the situation. In fact, issues of social justice seldom come explicitly into view (see 2:34 and 5:26-28). It would appear that Jeremiah (not unlike Hosea) understood the problem to be more systemic in nature and clearly seen in spiritual adultery. Specific individual and social sins are understood to be symptomatic of this more fundamental issue. As a society moves further and further away from God, the penalties of their sin become more profound.⁵⁸

The Judgments Upon Judah
4:5 to 6:30

During the reign of Josiah

Metaphors drawn from the arena of warfare are particularly prominent in this section (4:5-6, 13, 16, 19-21, 29, 5:15-17, 6:1, 4-7, 22-23, 25). But the range of metaphors is remarkable: wild animals – lion, leopard, wolf, eagles (4:7, 13, 5:6); scorching wind (4:11-12); clouds and whirlwind (4:13); men guarding a field (4:17); cosmic catastrophe (4:23-26); ravaged vineyards (5:10; 6:9); fire (5:14); open grave (5:17); and shepherds with flocks (6:3). The metaphors for the wicked are also rich in meaning: lusty stallions (5:7-8); prostitute’s dress and makeup (4:30); bird catchers (5:26-28). Metaphors of the anguish of the people suffering judgment are also present: a woman in labor (4:31). The use of such lively metaphors impresses us like no abstract or literal language can.⁵⁶

The theme of judgment hinted at in the first three chapters of Jeremiah and announced so dramatically in 4:3-4 is now spelled out in some detail, providing the central theme of the next major section. The prophet from Anathoth had pleaded earnestly for repentance (shuwb), and had given warning that sincere repentance, accompanied by a radical change in the national and individual life and a circumcised heart, needed to take place. However, this was rejected! Consequently, judgment day was at hand . . . Babylon was coming in a bad mood.

The preceding unit (to see link click As – Return to Me) portrayed YHVH as a wounded, betrayed lover and husband yearning for a return. Even at the end of the unit there is still hope that Judah will ”come home.” The mood is starkly different as this next section begins. Now there is no such yearning. Now there is darkness and harshness. This is a very different voice of Ha’Shem, who has reached the limit of yearning and the far edge of compassion. For all of the LORD’s compassion . . . God will not be mocked.⁵⁷

A. The apostasy of ADONAI’s people (2:1 to 4:4)

B. The inevitability of Ha’Shem’s near historical judgment (4:5-31)

a. The apostasy of ADONAI’s people (5:1-30)

b. The inevitability of Ha’Shem’s near historical judgment (6:1-30)

Return to Me Faithless People
and I Will Cure You of Backsliding
3:19 to 4:4

Return to Me faithless people and I will cure you of backsliding DIG: In what sense has Isra’el become like a disenfranchised firstborn son? Like an unfaithful woman? Under what conditions would God find Isra’el acceptable again (3:22-25)? Were the ten northern tribes ever “lost?” What should Judah during Josiah’s day do now (see Hosea 10:12; Matthew 4:7 and 22)? What is circumcision of the heart?

REFLECT: Is there an area of your life that ADONAI is calling you back to Him today? Asking you to return (shuwb) to obedience to His Word? How does God feel when we sin? When we repent? What actions will demonstrate genuine repentance (shuwb) on your part? How can you help others back to the Lord?

During the reign of Josiah

These verses switch back and forth between the spiritual awakening under Josiah (3:21-3:22a and 4:3-31) to the far eschatological pleading of the believing remnant at the end of the Great Tribulation before the Second Coming (3:22b-4:2), and back to Josiah’s day to avoid the wrath of God.

ADONAI’s desire was to bless His people. The need is spelled out: return (shuwb) to God the Father! Unless this happens YHVH cannot regather the united kingdom of Isra’el and give them the inheritance of the Land (3:14-18).

The necessity of repentance both in Josiah’s day and at the end of the Great Tribulation: YHVH thought to Himself, “Oh what a joy it would be for Me to treat you like a son (3:19a NET)! God would single Isra’el (this signifies the whole nation, including Judah) out from among His other sons (the other nations). The word you (Judah) addressed here is feminine; however, the object treat is masculine. According to Hebrew law, daughters were usually unable to inherit. Judah, addressed as a daughter, could claim no right to receive divine mercy. Yet, figuratively she will be regarded as worthy of a son’s inheritance. ADONAI is gracious.

What a joy it would be for Me to give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world because the divine Presence is especially seen in it (3:19c NET). I thought you would call Me “Father” and not turn (shuwb) away from following Me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Yisra’el, have been unfaithful to Me, declares the LORD (3:19b-20). The prophet paints the picture of a parent who has labored and dreamed for the wonderful day when his son is old enough, responsible enough, and responsive enough to receive all that has been saved for him since his birth. The father wants to give the son his inheritance even more than the son wants to receive it. But the moment of giving never comes because the son neither understands nor cares. The wounded father is left with the shambles of his hard work and broken dreams, and knows the bitter combination of deep hurt and heavy resentment.⁵¹ Because of Israel’s past spiritual adultery, she must repent.

Josiah’s day: A cry is heard on the barren heights, more pleasing to God than their worshiping wood and stone, the weeping (sorrow for sin) and pleading of the people of Isra’el (seeking forgiveness for past sins), because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten ADONAI their God (3:21). Isra’el is found in the process of repenting. Idolatry on the barren heights had been wiped out (3:2). Return (shuwb) faithless (from shuwb) people. He is still their gracious Father, whose house is still open to them, whose arms are extended to them (Luke 15:20-24).

Come to Me! I will cure you of backsliding (from shuwb) (3:22a). In Scripture, sickness is one of the many metaphors for sin (Psalm 41:4; Isaiah 1:5-6; Jeremiah 8:22, 30:12; Mark 2:17). Here, YHVH says that He will cure Isra’el of her sin. Like an infection entering the bloodstream, sin secretly gets into our inner being and goes to work weakening and destroying. It gradually infects the whole system, producing spiritual laziness and loss of spiritual appetite; and if not cared for, the “sin sickness” can lead to dire consequences. When we hear about believers suddenly falling into open sin, in most cases a gradual spiritual slide preceded the sudden fall.⁵²

We know that once Josiah was killed on the battlefield (to see link click Ai – Josiah Ruled for 31 Years from 640 to 609 BC) Josiah’s fourth son Jehoahaz was an evil king who opposed the reforms of his righteous father and reigned a mere 3 months. Next, Jehoiakim, Josiah’s second son became king and reigned 11 years. Josiah’s purge of false gods came to a sudden stop when Jehoiakim became king. Judah would then be in a spiritual death spiral that would last the entirety of Jeremiah’s forty-five-year ministry.

Far eschatological: These are the words of the confession before the Lord returns (also see the commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ): Yes, we will come to You, for You are the LORD our God (3:22b). Surely the idolatrous worship on the hills and mountains is a deception (First Kings 14:23-24, 15:11-13; Second Kings 23:4-15; Psalm 106:35-40; Isaiah 28:7-8; Hosea 4:9-14; Amos 2:7b-8). They confess the failure of idolatry to bring them salvation. Help did not come from the hills and mountains where idolatry took place. Nowhere but in YHVH is salvation to be found. Now they see that ADONAI our God is the salvation of Isra’el (3:23).

They confess the results of idolatry (also see Hosea 9:10). From our youth shameful gods have consumed the fruits of our ancestors’ labor – their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters because they had been sacrificed to Ba’al. From Isra’el’s youth, that is, through the entire history of the covenant there never was a time of faithfulness. From the very beginning she had sought other lovers. The term shameful gods is a slang term for the Canaanite god Ba’al (3:24 and 7:31). It was the worship of Ba’al that was a shameful thing (also see Judges 6:32; Second Samuel 11:21 and 28; First Chronicles 8:33 and Hosea 9:10). In Jeremiah 11:13 the prophet mentions that shameful god Ba’al. Isra’el had therefore been scandalized and left without a place of belonging. Her own actions had caused her to be utterly displaced, abandoned with none to protect her . . . especially from the antichrist.

At the end of the Great Tribulation, the believing remnant will say: Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. So intense will the feeling of shame be that it will appear to enshroud us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our ancestors; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed ADONAI our God (3:25). The crux of the confession touches on the vital point of obedience. Both the present generation and their forefathers, all the way back to the Exodus, had failed to obey.

ADONAI says that two actions will demonstrate genuine repentance before the Second Coming: It is surprising that in the face of such gross spiritual adultery there was still a chance to return to YHVH. That in itself is an amazing possibility. Here Ha’Shem issues yet another invitation, but it comes neither easily or cheaply.

First, remove detestable idols: If you, Isra’el (this signifies the whole nation, including Judah), will return (shuwb), then return (shuwb) to Me, declares the LORD. This is a third class – unfulfilled condition. It has the possibility (or even the probability) of becoming a reality. If you put your detestable idols out of My sight and no longer go astray (4:1), then you will not have to be removed.

Second, swear by the true Ba’al instead of the counterfeit Ba’al: In 3:13a when YHVH said: Return (shuwb) faithless (from shuwb) people, declares ADONAI, “for I am married to you (3:14a). There is a play on words. The phrase for I am married is translated from the Hebrew word ba’al. This is the same word for the Canaanite counterfeit god Ba’al. ADONAI is the true Ba’al of Isra’el – not the one the Canaanites call Ba’al. And if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, “As surely as ADONAI lives,” then the consequence of genuine repentance is the implementation of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3, 18:18, 22:18, 26:4 and 28:14) the Gentile nations will invoke blessings by Him and in Him they will boast (4:2). All the Gentile nations of the earth will be blessed through Him by virtue of what happens with Isra’el (also see Romans 11). Jeremiah will have more to say about the restoration of Isra’el in Chapters 30-33.

Near historical during Josiah’s day: This is what ADONAI says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns (4:3). The problem with the Israelites was their dishonesty; they would use the right words but they really didn’t mean it from their hearts. They would verbalize obedience to the One True God, but wouldn’t give up their false gods. It was easy to say, “As the Lord lives,” but their hearts were hard and crowded with thorns like a neglected, unplowed field.

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you people of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim. The radical change necessary in Y’hudah is made much clearer by the call to a circumcision of the heart. Jewish boys were circumcised when they were eight days old, given a name, and made a son of the covenant (Genesis 17:9-14; Leviticus 12:3; Luke 1:59). Although no amount of surgery on the body could change the heart, the Jews thought that this ritual was their guarantee of salvation (Matthew 3:7-9; Acts 15:1-5). YHVH, however, wanted them to “operate” on their hearts and put away their callousness and disobedience. Therefore, circumcise your hearts and do not be stiff-necked any longer (Deuteronomy 10:16, also see Deuteronomy 30:6; Romans 2:28-29; Colossians 2:11).⁵³

If they do not repent, they will suffer God’s wrath which will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done – burn with no one to quench it (4:4b; also see Hosea 10:12; Matthew 4:7 and 22). The prophet’s words are angry. The wrath of God is a lamentation. All prophecy is one great exclamation . . . ADONAI is not indifferent to evil! He is always concerned. He is personally affected by what we do to each other. This is one of the meanings of the righteous anger of Ha’Shem: the end of indifference!⁵⁴

The future of the relationship is left open, but it reveals the wounded hope of YHVH. What counts now is not foxhole repentance in order to survive. What counts now is the reality of this husband, who with bitter yearning and affronted loyalty, still open to a relationship, even against the wisdom of the Torah. If perhaps the relationship can be resumed, it will be outlined the righteousness of the Torah. It will be the odd righteousness of the first husband, God, who violates Torah for the sake of the relationship (Psalm 143:1-2). The LORD’s powerful yearning risks defilement for the sake of covenant (Luke 7:34-35).⁵⁵

Unfaithful Isra’el
3: 6-18

Unfaithful Isra’el DIG: To what does God compare the northern kingdom of Isra’el and the southern kingdom of Judah? The people of the north were attacked and deported by the Assyrians in 721 BC, a century before Jeremiah. Why did God allow that to happen? What did ADONAI hope the people of Judah would do when they saw what happened to Isra’el? What did Judah do? Why was Isra’el more righteous than unfaithful Judah? What is Jeremiah’s message to the northern Kingdom? What does the one . . . two represent? How does Yirmeyahu envision the future for a united Kingdom? Why will the ark of the Covenant be irrelevant in those days?

REFLECT: How would you feel if your spouse was unfaithful? Would you take him or her back? If so, under what conditions? What does that tell you about God’s love that He wants to take Isra’el back? Do you have trouble forgiving yourself for something you’re done? Does it help knowing that God forgives you? Is something more needed? ADONAI is not impressed with mere external conformity. Is there any area of your life where you just try to impress others and have not inwardly acknowledged your guilt?

During the reign of Josiah

During the reign of King Josiah (to see link click Ai – Josiah Ruled For 31 Years from 640 to 609 BC), the LORD said to Yirmeyahu, “Have you seen what faithless (from shuwb) Isra’el has done?” In this context, Isra’el means the northern kingdom of Isra’el. As if she was the embodiment of the sin of spiritual adultery. She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there by worshiping other gods (3:6). It is particularly in the oracles recorded in Chapters 2 and 3 of Jeremiah that we become aware of the links with Hosea both as to vocabulary and also in regard to ideas.

The LORD’s repeated calls for repentance (shuwb) were ignored (2 Kings 17:13-15). I had hoped that after she had done all this sinning she would return (shuwb) to Me. God is not only ready, but anxious, to forgive those who ask for forgiveness. But she did not return (shuwb), and her treacherous (Hebrew: bagowd) sister Judah saw it (3:7). Here Jeremiah is the teacher of his people rather than the fussy theologian, and does not concern himself with such questions as Ha’Shem’s omniscience and foreknowledge.

I gave the faithless (from shuwb) northern kingdom of Isra’el her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ij – Is It Lawful for a Man to Divorce His Wife?). The historical fact is that in 722 BC the northern kingdom of Isra’el fell to the Assyrians. But even before this, parts of Isra’el had been seized by Assyria. In fact, during the reign of Tiglath-pileser III (745-726 BC) Assyria formed three provinces from all the territory north of the plain of Jezreel and the Israelite lands of Megiddo, Karnaim, and Gilead. The upper class was deported and replaced by colonists from distant lands (Second Kings 15:29). It was a steep price to pay for her faithlessness. What should have been clear to unfaithful Y’hudah was that faithless Isra’el had been punished for her adulterous conduct.⁴⁹ Yet I saw that her unfaithful (from shuwb) sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery (3:8). But this was merely a lovers quarrel. God is faithful. He had already promised: I will never leave you or abandon you (Deteronomy 31:6 NLT). Therefore, He would later confirm: I will make a New Covenant with the house of Isra’el and the house of Judah (see Eo – The Days are Coming, declares the LORD, When I Will Make a New Covenant with the People of Isra’el).

Sin always costs you more than you wanted to pay, and takes you further than you wanted to go. The reason for Y’hudah’s behavior was simple. Her covenant with YHVH had become so dulled that she regarded her adultery as insignificant. Her conscience was seared as with a hot iron (First Timothy 4:2). Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood (3:9)

“In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return (shuwb) to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD (3:10). Y’hudah was not only apostate, but false also. A great religious reform took place during the reign of Josiah, and an earnest attempt was made to stamp out idolatry (Second Kings 23). While the reform may have had some beneficial results, it seems clear that it produced no profound change because the people weren’t sincere in their conversion. Religious activity may have increased but true repentance (shuwb) was lacking.

Then ADONAI said to His prophet, “Faithless Isra’el, who has already been destroyed by the Assyrians, is more righteous than unfaithful (from shuwb) Judah (3:11; also see Ezekiel 16:1-63 and Hosea 2:2-23). More righteous because the northern kingdom of Isra’el did not have the example of punishment before their eyes, as did Y’hudah in Isra’el’s destruction. Faithless Isra’el had actually proven to be more righteous than her treacherous sister Judah. Why? Because Y’hudah had Isra’el as her example. As a result, Judah had greater light as to ADONAI’s dealing with sin. And with greater light comes greater responsibility, and the rejection of greater light means greater judgment. This is a principle throughout Scripture. So having shown that there was greater guilt in Y’hudah, Ha’Shem deals with repentance.

In the far eschatological future, as the armies of the antichrist seek to eliminate the Jews forever, there will be a national regeneration and all Isra’el will be saved (Romans 11:26a). But first, there must be a confession of Isra’el’s national sin; and secondly, a pleading for Messiah to return (shuwb) (see the commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ). That will lead to the Second Coming (see the commentary on Isaiah Kg – The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to Bozrah).

Go, proclaim this message toward the north. “Return (shuwb), faithless (from shuwb) Isra’el,” declares the LORD (3:12a). The plea here is one of an offended husband seeking his wife back, even against the Torah, even in the face of humiliation. The point was that if YHVH had borne with the southern kingdom of Y’hudah for so long in spite of her sins, then the northern kingdom of Yisra’el, disadvantaged by having no example before her, might expect His acceptance if she returned (shuwb).⁵⁰

Yirmeyahu paused in his condemnation of sin to offer a message of repentance (shuwb) and hope to the northern Kingdom. “I will frown on you no longer (I will not look on you with anger), for I AM faithful,” declares ADONAI, “I will not be angry forever” (3:12b). If Isra’el responds, God will respond in kind. This is a divine principle that YHVH will respond to true repentance (Ezekiel 18:21-23). God will exclude no one from salvation who is willing to turn around (shuwb) and go in a different direction. Only acknowledge your guilt. Admission of sin is the first step to repentance and recovery of God’s favor. Acknowledge that you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered (Hebrew: pazar) your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed Me,” declares ADONAI (3:13). The verb pazar means to spend lavishly or extravagantly (Psalm 112:9 and Proverbs 11:24). Judah, therefore, had been lavish or extravagant with her lust for other gods.

Return (shuwb) faithless (from shuwb) people, declares the LORD, “for I am married to you (3:14a). There is a play on words here. The verb ba’al, meaning to be master, husband, lord, is used here in the pronoun I in an emphatic position. The use of the verb is significant. In the setting of the covenant, it is ADONAI-Elohim who calls Isra’el His wife (Hosea 2:2, 16). But not only that, YHVH is Isra’el’s true Husband (ba’al), unlike the false master Ba’al. Although a certificate of divorce had been given (3:8), Isra’el had not married another and God is still willing to be her first husband again just as Hosea was willing to be Gomer’s husband again (Hosea 3:1-5). When repentance comes, there will be five rewards in the far eschatological future.

First, I [Myself am your Master] will choose you – one from a town and two from a clan – and bring you to Zion (3:14b). Consequently, there will be a worldwide regathering.

Second, Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding (3:15). Isra’el will finally have righteous leaders.

Third, the ark of the Covenant will neither be built nor remembered. In those days, declares the LORD. When Jeremiah (under the direction of the Holy Spirit) uses the phrase in the days to come; the days are coming; in those days; in that day, at that time; or for the time will surely come, the context points either to the near historical future or the far eschatological future and which one should be used. This is the first of twenty-five times that Yirmeyahu uses one of these phrases. In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the Land, declares the LORD, people will no longer say, “The ark of the Covenant of ADONAI” (see the commentary on Exodus Fr – The Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place: Christ at the Throne of Grace).

It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made (3:16). Why? For the true Mercy Seat will be ruling and reigning in the far eschatological future from the Messianic Temple in Jerusalem (see the commentary on Isaiah Db – The Nine Missing Articles in Messiah’s Coming Temple).

Fourth, because Yeshua Messiah will reign visibly from Tziyon it will become the center of Gentile attention (Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-5). At that time they will call Jerusalem: The Throne of the LORD, and all the Gentile nations will gather in Yerushalayim to honor the name of ADONAI. Therefore, they will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts (3:17).

Fifth, there will be a total reunification of the two houses of Isra’el (3:18). In the far eschatological future the people of Y’hudah will join the people of Yisra’el, and together they will come from a northern land to the Promised Land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance (see the commentary on Genesis Eg – I Am the LORD, Who Brought You out of Ur of the Chaldeans to Give You This Land). This was the fervent dream and hope of the prophets, both before (Isaiah 11:12; Jeremiah 2:4; Ezeki’el 37:16ff; Hosea 2:2), and after the seventy years of Babylonian rule (see Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule).

Return to Me
3:6 to 4:2

During the reign of Josiah

These verses switch back and forth between Josiah’s day (3:21-3:22a) to the far eschatological pleading of the believing remnant at the end of the Great Tribulation before the Second Coming (3:22b-4:2), and back to Josiah’s day to avoid the wrath of a holy God. This is a common literary device in both Jeremiah and Isaiah.

ADONAI promised punishment to the people if they didn’t repent (shuwb). Does YHVH punish believers today for their sins? Explain. Have you ever felt like Ha’Shem was punishing you for sinning? If so, what made you feel that way? If it wasn’t truly punishment from God, what might ADONAI have been doing when you thought He was punishing you?

The Choice of Repentance or Judgment
3:6 to 6:30

During the reign of Josiah

There are two tension points in Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning Judah. The first is God’s near historical righteous judgment upon Y’hudah for her spiritual adultery by seventy years of Babylonian Exile (to see link click Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule). The second is ADONAI’s far eschatological restoration of Judah in the messianic Kingdom (see the commentary on Isaiah Kp – My Chosen People Will Inherit My Mountains). These two tension points are beautifully seen in Hosea 11:7 and Hosea 14:4.

Near historical: Hosea 11:7 CJB: My people are hanging in suspense about returning (from shuwb) to Me; and though they call upwards, nobody makes a move.

Near historical: Hosea 11:7 paraphrased: Since His people continue to be impaled as if crucified upon a stake (Greek: epikremamenos) and cannot get loose – going out from the dwelling place of living for YHVH – God shall become angry with His precious and costly things. None at all exalt Him.

The southern kingdom of Y’hudah was committing spiritual adultery in the sense that she was no longer dwelling or inhabiting where ADONAI lived, and as a result, had no relationship with Him but chose to pursue after other gods.

Far eschatological: Hosea 14:4 CJB: I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely; for My anger has turned from [her].

Far eschatological: Hosea 14:4 paraphrased: I will restore her dwelling place of living for God and heal her apostasy; I will love her freely, for My anger has turned away (from shuwb) from her.

The LORD promises to heal her apostasy, in other words, all the hurt and pain that her spiritual adultery caused Him, and to love her with perfect spontaneity since His anger had been turned away from her.

You Have Lived as a Prostitute With Many Lovers,
Would You Now Return to Me?
3: 1-5

You have lived as a prostitute with many lovers, would you now return to me? DIG: What does the analogy of divorce mean in this context? Who is the one properly entitled to seek divorce: God or Judah? Who is the one seeking reconciliation? Who is the one likely to reject that effort? Why is that?

REFLECT: How do you show your loyalty to the LORD as your first love? Is there any way in which you have left your first love of Him? Has something or someone else taken His place? How do you handle conflicts of loyalty between ADONAI and other loves (such as Y’hudah found herself in)? How important is loyalty to you in your relationship apart from YHVH? To what or whom do you feel most loyal? Why?

During the reign of Josiah

The picture here is of Judah as an unfaithful wife who had turned away (shuwb) to lovers and is strongly reminiscent of Hosea’s unfaithful wife Gomer. Y’hudah had the forehead of a prostitute (Hebrew: zona), had lived as a prostitute with many lovers, and was guilty of prostitution (zenunim). These same terms occur in both Jeremiah and Hosea.

ADONAI had rejected those Judah trusted (2:37b). So He said: If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return (shuwb) to her again? Remarriage was forbidden in that circumstance (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). Isra’el had gone after many lovers (Hosea 2:2-5). One only needed to go to the high places to see the Ba’al altars set up for her idols. The Land had been completely defiled. Now the question in Chapter 3 is: what will happen next? What will God do?

The crisis turns on the grace and love of ADONAI. Taking a prostitute wife back is clearly prohibited by the Torah. But in spite of this fact, YHVH yearns for the return of Judah to the covenant. This violates Torah and common sense. No husband in his right mind would be so vulnerable as to take back such a fickle wife. This is stunning. Against all expectations God will risk humiliation and defilement. If only she would be faithful.

God had every right to reject His people because they had abandoned Him, not in order to marry another “husband,” but in order to play the field. But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers – would you now return (shuwb) to Me? declares ADONAI (3:1). Isra’el needed to decide once and for all; she could not play fast and loose with her loyalties.

This savage indictment likens lustful Judah to an ambushing Arab. Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers (Genesis 38:14-16), sat like a nomad in the desert. This scene drips with irony. One would expect a lone woman on the road to be ambushed. Shamelessly, however, the woman assumes the role of the ambusher, so desperate is she for any lover.⁴⁸ So was Judah eager to embrace every form of idolatry. You have defiled the Land with your prostitution and wickedness (3:2).

Far too many of the people thought that consorting with Ba’al would ensure rain and fertility; in fact, the opposite had happened. Therefore, the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen (Leviticus 26:19). Yet you have the brazen look, the forehead (Hebrew: metsach) of a prostitute. A (set) brow on the forehead, symbolizes resolution, determination, or negatively, stubbornness and intractability (Ezekiel 3:7-9; Isaiah 48:4). You refuse to blush with shame (3:3). Even in the face of a drought, Judah refused to be ashamed of her actions. Her thinking had deteriorated to the point where she wasn’t even embarrassed over her spiritual adultery.

Have you not just called to Me, “My Father, my friend from my youth, will you always be angry (3:4-5a)? Ha’Shem yearns for reconciliation, but it will be on His terms and requires real change, not merely empty words. So the waiting continued. The grieving Husband waited with expectation, yet still expects repentance.

Will your wrath continue forever? This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can (3:5b). The prophet appeals to Judah to acknowledge YHVH even at this late hour, and gives the assurance that He will surely not stay angry forever. Yet even as God makes this appeal, He sadly adds over and over again that the people have demonstrated their persistent wickedness. Y’hudah is not moved and does not change. She had left her first love (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Az – The Church at Ephesus).

Your Sword  Has Devoured Your Prophets
Like a Ravenous Lion
2: 29-37

Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion DIG: Why did the backslidden followers try to turn the judgment against them back toward God? Why did they try to deflect blame? What did they claim as proof of their innocence? Read Psalms 37 and 73 and Matthew 5:45. What do these passages reveal about the relationship between prosperity and the blessing of YHVH. What should the LORD’s goodness have led the people toward (see Luke 15:17-18 and Romans 2:4-5)?

REFLECT: How good are you at taking responsibility for your sins? Are you quick to ask for forgiveness to those you have offended? To God? Or do you deflect by blaming others? When was the last time you stood up and took responsibility for something you did? When was the last time you deflected and blamed others? Is doing the right thing a one time act, or a pattern of behavior? Which path do you think you’re headed down?

616 BC during the reign of Josiah

Judah had become spiritually irresponsible. Written during Josiah’s reign in a time of relative prosperity and tranquility, God wastes no time putting the blame squarely where it belongs. Why do the people bring a case against Him when they are the ones who have rebelled? The fact is they have none. YHVH then says the Israelites have not listened to Him. The prophets He sent had been put to the sword.⁴⁴

Why do you bring charges against Me? You have all rebelled against Me, declares ADONAI (2:29). Once again, we have law-court terminology. The expression bring charges against (Hebrew: rib) is a legal word and suggests that the people wanted to bring a legal lawsuit against YHVH, though the grounds for such a suit are not specified. But God would not accept the validity of the charges, and, in fact, brings His own rib against Judah. She, in fact, had no case, or defense, against these legal charges against her.⁴⁵

In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion (2:30). This alludes to Zechariah (Second Chronicles 24:20) and Isaiah, who, according to tradition, suffered martyrdom at the hands of Manasseh. All previous discipline had been ineffective. So now the LORD sees the need to move from discipline to punishment (after the exile this is admitted in Nehemiah 9:26 and Jeremiah 26:20-23).

Judah’s irresponsibility showed up most clearly in her forgetfulness of ADONAI’s past dealings. You of this generation, consider the word of the LORD, “Have I been a desert to Isra’el (have I failed to provide for your needs) or a land of great darkness? The Hebrew mapelyah, literally darkness of YHVH, like shallhebethyah literally the very flame of ADONAI (Cant. 8.6). In other words, God did not leave Isra’el to grope in the darkness without guidance. Why do My people say, “We are free to roam: we will come to You no more” (2:31). Again, the fault did not rest with ADONAI. He provided the manna in the desert (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Cr – I Will Rain Down Manna from Heaven for You), and when the plague of darkness came, Goshen had light (see the commentary on Exodus Bs – Moses Stretched Out His Hand Toward the Sky and Total Darkness Covered All Egypt For Three Days).

Then Ha’Shem demonstrated Judah’s illogical thinking by contrasting what she forgets and what women generally do not forget. Already knowing the answer, He asks: Does a young woman forget her jewelry (or those things that mark a woman as not being married)? No! Does a bride her wedding ornaments (the noun kishshurim occurs in Isaiah 3:20 and means a sash worn around the waist and was the mark of a married woman)? No! Women do not forget these things, yet My people have forgotten Me, days without number (2:32). God is as indispensable to Y’hudah, indeed the source of her glory, as these adornments to a maid or to a bride. YHVH had not forgotten Judah. No, it was the other way around. Judah had forgotten her Maker.

As a result, Y’hudah sarcastically concluded that she had become an expert prostitute. How skilled you are at pursuing illicit love! Therefore, the Hebrew word lachen introduces an oath of affirmation. Therefore, even the worst of women can learn from your ways (2:33). This was a very common motif for Isra’el in the prophets, especially Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea.

Another indication of her irresponsibility was Y’hudah’s involvement in the shedding of innocent blood. Then Judah moved from a prostitute to a murderer. On your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor (Second Kings 21:16), though you did not catch them breaking in, which might have justified defending yourself (Exodus 22:2-3). The poor people that she killed were not guilty of anything. Yet in spite of all this you say, “I am innocent; surely He is not angry with me.” All is well with me; this proves my innocence since I evidently enjoy the blessing of YHVH. But I will pass judgment on you because you say, “I have not sinned” (2:34-35).

A fourth indication of Judah’s irresponsibility was her long history of unfaithfulness. Every attractively packaged promise distracted Y’hudah from her God. Every new fad was taken up and tried in a burst of short-lived enthusiasm. For centuries it had been one lover after another. Jeremiah said: Why do you go about so much, changing your ways? You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria (2:36). The very people Judah had been prostituting herself with, casually seeking alliances and exchanging gods, would put her to shame. He held a mirror up to them, and they saw the reflection of a fickle schoolgirl with a crush on the new boy who has just moved in down the street. She can think of nothing but seeing him, attracting his attention, getting noticed. When he jilts her, she goes after the boy in the next block and the story begins all over again. Giddy and flirtatious, the girl flits from one boy to another, careless in all her relationships, concerned only with making an impression. And the boys just use her . . . they deserve each other.

The marital metaphor with which the chapter began (see Am – I Remember the Devotion of Your Youth) continues throughout this file; all the images focus on infidelity. Yirmeyahu is dependent on an already existing tradition, especially Hosea (Hosea Chapters 1-3, 4:10-15, 13:20-27; Isaiah 62:3-5), who picks up on the sexual imagery of Canaanite religion and “baptizes” it as an example of the YHVH-Isra’el relationship before the progressive revelation of the B’rit Chadashah (Ephesians 5:25-33; Revelation 2:4-4, 21:2).

Yet Jeremiah explores the images in an even more intensive way. In terms of the human analogy, these images are true to life, reflecting the actual experience of spousal betrayal. The image used for ADONAI and Y’hudah is that of a husband who has been betrayed by his wife and all the anger and frustration that would result. In that culture, the husband would be shamed because of what the wife had done. The Jews were then invited to think of the feelings they might have – anger, distress, frustration, hurt – if their spouse proved unfaithful. Such language reflects the deep feelings of God at Judah’s infidelity. The divine anger, disappointment, and pain are made public by Yirmeyahu’s insights into the feelings of the LORD. Such insights into how Elohim feels about the infidelity are not to make us “feel sorry” for Him, but to elicit repentance from the Israelites.⁴⁶

The message is clear. First you had a crush on Assyria and that was a dead end. Now you have a crush on Egypt and that will turn out the same way. If you ever grow up, you will look back on those times in embarrassment and blush. Meanwhile, ADONAI has loved you. And you once said you loved Him! Your current actions develop out of your silly fantasies. They have no basis in reality. Assyria never cared for you; Egypt will never care for you. God cares for you. And YHVH will not permit the people He loves and the people He created for His glory to live in such adulterous and empty relationships.⁴⁷

You will also leave that place with your hands on your head (2:37a). This was their way of expressing grief, and is thought by some to signify that the heavy hand of ADONAI’s affliction rested on the mourner. Should someone who is plunged into wretchedness meet a friend, they immediately place their hands on their head to illustrate their circumstances. Upon hearing about the death of a friend or relative, they clasp their hands on their heads. After being punished at school, students run home with their hands on their heads. They also tore their clothing and put the dust of the earth on their heads (Second Samuel 13:19).

For ADONAI has rejected those you trust; they will not help you (2:37b). ADONAI speaks as a chagrined lover, a stern judge, a companion who wants a relationship with Judah. But she wants to go her own way (see An – Isra’el Forsakes God), a way that can only lead to death. Life is given only in a relationship with the LORD, nowhere else. The southern kingdom of Judah, however, chose another way.

I Planted You Like a Choice Vine,
from the Very Best Seed
2: 20-28

I planted you like a choice vine, from the very best seed DIG: Why do you think Jeremiah used word pictures to paint a description of Y’hudah? How is the southern kingdom of Judah like a young calf freed from the yoke of bondage? A wild vine? A stain that cannot be removed? A she-camel in heat? A disgraced thief when caught? How do these word pictures differ from the earlier one that described the Israelites as the bride, holy to the LORD (see 2:2-3)? To whom could you apply these word pictures today?

REFLECT: What happens when someone loves their sin more than they love ADONAI? Not many people bow down before or talk with gods of wood or stone in our society today. But do you think we’ve overcome the sin of idolatry? What kinds of things do people worship today? What things, seemingly good things, like family or work, are you tempted to worship? Do you think God regards you as a “bride” or a “prostitute?”

616 BC during the reign of Josiah

The Israelites didn’t want to have anything to do with God’s control or restraint over them. Therefore, ADONAI now deals with Judah’s extreme dedication to idolatry (Hosea 1-2; Jeremiah 3:1-9; Ezekiel 8:1-18, 16:15-41, 23:5-44). Jeremiah uses five analogies to show how deeply her worship of Ba’al was entrenched. The sexual imagery used in Jeremiah to speak of the relationship between Y’hudah and YHVH (and other deities) is ultimately derived from religious practices associated with the worship of Ba’al and Judah’s resulting infidelity. Idolatry is seen as spiritual adultery. So the sexual practices associated with Ba’al worship meant that the sexual images also had a real, literal, reference.⁴⁰

In the first analogy Isra’el is pictured as a young calf that has been freed from the yoke of bondage but now refuses to serve (Hosea 4:16). Long ago, before you broke off your yokes and tore off your bonds; you said, “I will not serve You!” Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down and prostitute yourself (2:20). She now chases everywhere after idols and under every spreading tree (3:6). She was unfaithful (Hosea 1:2) and was found guilty of spiritual adultery as the wife of YHVH (Deuteronomy 5:1-3 and 6:10-15).

The second analogy likens Isra’el to a choice vine. I had planted you like a choice vine (Hebrew: soreq), from the very best seed that produces red grapes (Hosea 10:1). Judah is often pictured as the LORD’s choice vine in the TaNaKh (Isaiah 5:1-7; Ezekiel 21:33-46) and in the B’rit Chadashah (Mattityahu 21:33-46). Yet, this choice vine produced poisonous branches (Deuteronomy 32:32), incapable of producing any good fruit. How then did you turn against Me into a corrupt, wild vine (2:21).

The third analogy describes a stain that cannot be removed. Although you wash yourself with soap (a strong vegetable alkali) and use an abundance of cleansing powder (a strong mineral alkali), the stain of your guilt is still before Me, declares Adonai ELOHIM (2:22). No amount of washing with normally reliable detergents would remove it.

Jeremiah’s persistent faithfulness contrasted with the erratic and impure nature of the people with whom he lived. They were full of projects, and wild with enthusiasm, but nothing ever added up. The prophet did his best to show them the shabby emptiness of their lives. Israel’s idolatry is further exhibited by her hypocrisy. She denies going after other gods. In answer to her denials, HaShem says: How can you say, “I am not defiled; I have not run after the gods of Ba’al, or the ba’alim?” See how you have behaved in the Valley of Ben Hinnom; consider what you have done (2:23a). This Valley is a constant witness against what Isra’el had done. Later, in Jeremiah we learn that the Israelites would burn their sons and daughters in the fire (to see link click Cf – They Will Bury the Dead in Topheth).

The fourth analogy pictures a she-camel in heat. In a bold, sexually explicit metaphor, he captured their attention and then dramatized their futility. You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving – in her heat who can turn (shuwb) her away? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her. Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said: It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them (2:23b-25). When in heat, a she-camel runs back and forth, here and there without any reason. She is wild and unrestrained. This is like Isra’el running back and forth going in circles. She sniffs the wind for the smell of male urine, and becomes totally uncontrollable until her desire is spent.

Those were strong words. Stand on a hill and look down in the valley at a young she-camel looking for a mate, back and forth, up and down. The record of her restless searching in the pad prints in the sand – a lot of movement going nowhere. Or look at the wild donkey in heat out in the desert, sniffing the wind for the scent of a mate – no matter who – unrestrained and purposeless except for one thing, the satisfaction of desire. Therefore, Jeremiah said that Y’hudah eagerly sought one god after another.

This is what you look like, preached the prophet. Dominated by appetite and impulse, your lives are empty of commitment, purpose, and continuity. You are frantic and busy, rushing here and there, wherever there is the slightest suggestion that you might satisfy something or other. But you are not camels in the mating season. You are people with the capacity for faithfulness. Isn’t it time to start living like it?⁴¹

The fifth analogy likens Isra’el to a disgraced thief when caught. So the people of Judah would be disgraced like a thief is caught – especially their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets (2:26). The thief is not disgraced or shamed because of stealing, but because he is caught. Likewise, when Jerusalem was destroyed and Judah was taken into exile, Y’hudah would be disgraced in her trust in other gods.

Then God exposed the foolishness of idolatry. They say to wood, “You are my father,” and to stone, “You gave me birth.” They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. In their syncretism they thought they could have it both ways. It was only when calamity struck that Judah realized the futility of depending on gods of Canaan who were powerless to deliver them.⁴² And so, when they are in trouble, they say, “Come and save us” (Psalm 3:8)! But during her death struggle with the Babylonians in 586 BC (see Ga – The Fall of Jerusalem), ADONAI would ask rhetorically: Where then are the gods of Ba’al you made for yourselves now? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! In those final days of judgment the Israelites would call upon their gods to save them, but would hear nothing from stone and wood. For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns (2:27-28). Many of the small towns were named after pagan deities. And Jeremiah’s hometown, Anathoth, was one of them!

Believers today face a real threat from the world that seeks to water-down centuries and centuries of true doctrine. It is not uncommon today to be in the presence of people who think they are very spiritual and pray to “the great spirit,” or “the mother goddess,” and downplay the uniqueness of the Gospel. Syncretism, the belief that all religions lead to God, is, as always, prevalent in the world today. But in the end, true believers chose sound doctrine and unbelievers don’t. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going out showed that none of them belonged to us (First John 2:19).

The B’rit Chadashah builds on the theme of YHVH as a foundation of living water (2:13). Yeshua informed the Samaritan woman the He could give her living water . . . welling up to eternal life (John 4:10 and 14). To any who believe in Him, Christ declares that streams of living water will flow from within them (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Gp – On the Last and Greatest Day of the Feast). To reject His claim is to reject the offer of life that only ADONAI can give. This was just as true in Jeremiah’s day as it is our own.⁴³

Isra’el Forsakes God
2: 14-19

Isra’el forsakes God DIG: In what ways was the nation backsliding? What roles does Assyria and Egypt (44:1) play in humiliating and destroying Isra’el? Why were terrible things happening to God’s people (2:17)? What attitude did the people of Judah fail to have toward the LORD in verse nineteen? What role does ADONAI play in sealing Isra’el’s fate (2:36-37)?

REFLECT: Think about this statement, “The greatest judgment Ha’Shem can send to disobedient people is to let them have their own way and reap the sad, painful consequences of their sins.” How was this true in the book of Jeremiah? What evidence do we have that this is still true today?

616 BC during the reign of Josiah

When the marriage relationship with God was going well, Isra’el was protected from invaders. All who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them (2:3). But no longer, as Ha’Shem’s five rhetorical questions demonstrate. Yet, Isra’el had become plunder (the spoils of war) to the nations around her. Her declaration that she would not serve YHVH had resulted in her serving those very nations – a new kind of bondage.³⁶

For a long time Isra’el had been in bondage. First: The northern kingdom of Isra’el had fallen to Assyria in 722 BC. Is Isra’el a servant, a slave by birth? The expected answer is negative. A different explanation accounted for their lowly state. Slaves were normally bought, but their children belonged to the same master. It seemed to Jeremiah that some freeborn Israelites were already slaves and others were about to become slaves. Second: If that were not so, why then had [she] become plunder (2:14)? Isra’el had been YHVH’s own possession, a willing partner in the covenant, and a witness to the victories over all her enemies by the LORD (Jeremiah does not use the terms Isra’el and Judah consistently because sometimes he uses the terms interchangeably and sometimes he uses them distinctly. There is no pattern). But Jeremiah’s original readers were sitting in Babylon, exiled from the Land and from the Temple. To them, the unthinkable had happened – they had been reduced to slavery once again, carried off as plunder. How did this come about? They had committed spiritual adultery until she was plundered.

Lions have roared; they have growled at [her]. Judah had not merely been threatened she had been caught. This wasn’t a warning, but reality. The lions in this scroll and the other prophets symbolize nations (Hosea 5:1-15). But who are they? Jeremiah was coming out against political alliances between Egypt and Assyria. They have laid waste her land; her towns are burned and deserted. Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked her skull, causing Judah’s destruction (2:15-16). At this point in Judah’s history, Egypt was especially guilty. Egypt merely exploited Judah for her own benefit, and would not hesitate to rob the Jews when it suited her convenience. An unreliable ally, she would turn around and attack Judah within a few years in 609 BC. Memphis is the ancient capital of lower-Egypt (about 13 miles south of modern Cairo), and Tahpanhes (an important fortress is on the Eastern branch of the Nile Delta) was a city that controlled the entrance to Egypt from the land of Canaan. Later, both of these cities would become centers of Jewish exile after Jerusalem was destroyed (Hosea 9:6).

The real cause of Judah’s trouble was plainly that she walked away from ADONAI, the Living Water (2:13), who led her safely through the wilderness. Jeremiah reminded them of this. Third: Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking ADONAI your God when He led you in the way of the wilderness (2:17)? This answers the question of verse 14. This is a theme to which the prophet returned to again and again. And in addition to forsaking the LORD for false gods, Judah had also forsaken Him for false alliances. Judah vainly went back and forth between Egypt and Assyria trying to forge treaties that would guarantee her safety (Jeremiah 2:36; Ezekiel 23:1-48; Hosea 7:11).

But no alliance could protect Judah from her sin. And fourth: Now (Hebrew: we’atta, is an important rhetorical participle signaling a shift from the past to the present) why go to Egypt to drink water from the Nile? And fifth: Why go to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates River (2:18)? What would she gain? Historically, Jeremiah’s point is sharp and painful. Menahem, king of the northern kingdom of Isra’el, sought Assyrian aid against Egypt; Hoshea sought Egyptian aid against Assyria; Josiah died while fighting Egypt in support of Assyria. Obviously, none of those alliances had been helpful.³⁷ Judah then sought help from broken cisterns that could not hold water (2:13). Ironically, the nations that she sought protection from would eventually enslave her.

Consequently, Yirmeyahu prophesied: Your wickedness will punish you, and your apostatizing will rebuke you. But she would realize that too late, as she was exiled in Babylon. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of Me, declares ADONAI-Tzva’ot (2:19, also see 4:18 and 5:25). Isra’el’s apostasies had turned back on her and made her the victim of plundering neighbors. The irony is that by forsaking Elohim and seeking after the gods of other nations, they were thrown into exile among those very nations.³⁸ Isra’el, a much-loved heir, did not need to have this happen. The original readers of Jeremiah’s scroll would realize that God was speaking directly to them, saying, in effect, “Don’t blame others for these events. You have brought this upon yourself.” The bitter results of these acts would show them the folly of their ways.

We can fall into the same trap today by seeking security in anything but Jesus. Simon Peter said: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that You are the Holy One of God (Yochanan 6:68). This is why the Bible says: Look, I am laying in Tziyon a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and whoever rests their trust on it will certainly not be humiliated (Fist Kefa 2:6 CJB). ADONAI is my Rock, my fortress and deliverer, my God, my Rock, in whom I find shelter, my shield, the power that saves me, my stronghold (Psalm 18:2). Jesus tells us to build our house on the Rock and not the sand of this world (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Dy – The Wise and Foolish Builders). The sand is composed of human opinions, attitudes, and wills, which are always shifting and always unstable. To build on sand is to build on self-will, self-satisfaction, and self-righteousness. To build on sand is to be unteachable, to be always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (Second Timothy 3:7).³⁹

I Remember the Devotion of Your Youth
2: 1-13

I remember the devotion of your youth DIG: God pictures Isra’el as a bride. Why is it such an apt illustration? What does it reveal about YHVH’s message about marriage? How did the marriage start out? To what barren wilderness does the LORD refer? What went wrong? What did the priests and the false shepherds do that was so contrary to ADONAI’s intent? Where was Ha’Shem all that time? What effect did this have? What charges does God bring? Ba’al is Hebrew for master or lord. Who is Ba’al (Judges 2:11-13)?

REFLECT: What emotions do you think ADONAI is trying to convey through these vivid pictures? This is spiritual adultery. How do you feel when cheated upon? Do you think YHVH is hurt any less by those He loves? When was the last time you found yourself in a hole of your own making? Are you still there? Or did you get out? Did you get out by your own best thinking or by the grace of God? What’s the lesson?

626 BC during the reign of Josiah

Here begins a series of brief oracles (divine communication or revelation), most of which seem to have come from Jeremiah’s early ministry. The first passage (2:1-13) contains two oracles that develop one thought. ADONAI contrasts Isra’el’s early devotion during the Exodus period with the apostasy after entering the Promised Land. The LORD calls upon the heavens to be shocked at this betrayal. The second oracle (2:14-19) shows the sad consequences of forsaking God. The third (2:20-28) defines Isra’el’s sin as idolatry. In the concluding oracle (2:29-37) YHVH tells how He has warned Isra’el, whom the prophet pictures as an adulterous wife. It is particularly in the oracles recorded in Chapters 2 and 3 of Jeremiah that we become aware of the links with Hosea both as to vocabulary and also ideas. Chapter 2 contains some of the finest poetry in the entire prophecy.²⁸

A Divine Memory: Jeremiah’s first message confronted Jerusalem with her spiritual adultery. To emphasize this, the prophet contrasted Judah’s former devotion with her present waywardness. The word of the LORD came to me (2:1). No indication is given as to how the word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu, but like other prophets he had a strong sense of conveying the mind of God to His people. The Spirit spoke through the prophet. It was the way divine revelation came to mankind: For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Ruach HaKodesh (Second Peter 1:21).

Go and shout in the ears of Yerushalayim that this is what ADONAI says: I remember your devotion (Hebrew: chesed) when you were young; how, as a bride, you loved Me (2:2a CJB). The word remember here is not a word that is used in the TaNaKh to simply recall something, but to remember to one’s account so it may put one in a positive light afterwards (Nehemiah 5:19, 13:22-31; Psalms 106:45). As a result, here, ADONAI remembers something, and what He remembers is being placed in Isra’el’s account positively. And to some degree this positive element may offset some of the negative aspect of their relationship. God remembers three things: Isra’el’s devotion, their short honeymoon and their exodus through the wilderness.

Jeremiah follows Hosea’s reasoning and uses some of the same wording (Hosea 2:15, 9:10, 11:1-2). The mind of YHVH went back in memory to the days of Isra’el’s youth when she first entered into a covenant with Him. He intended that Isra’el should remember (Hebrew: zakar), and her great calendar of festivals were designed to keep that memory alive. The LORD recalled the unfailing devotion of Isra’el in her honeymoon period in the desert following her acceptance of His covenant. One is reminded of Hosea 1-3 where the husband-wife relationship between Hosea and Gomer is a picture of the relationship between Ha’Shem and Isra’el.

At the time of the exodus Isra’el followed ADONAI through the wilderness, through a land not sown (2:2b CJB). Isra’el wasn’t perfect (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Cn – When They Came to Marah the Water was Bitter), but God was gracious to her and for the most part she had remained faithful as a nation. The measure of Isra’el’s loyalty and devotion in those early days was that she ventured into the wilderness, an open area that had not been sown. This was in contrast to what she had known in Egypt with its tilled land and abundant crops. But strong confidence in YHVH led Isra’el to follow Him into such unfamiliar territory, so deeply did she trust Him.²⁹ After beginning with a marital metaphor, Jeremiah moves briefly to an agricultural metaphor.

Isra’el had been set apart as holy to the LORD (Exodus 19:6, 22:31 and 28:36), the first fruits of His harvest (2:3a). Rashi explains that the phrase first fruits refers to the first portion taken from the new crop, such as the wave-offering (see my commentary on Exodus Gj – Take the Other Ram, and Aaron and His Sons will Lay Their Hands on Its Head), which must be brought to the Temple as sacred and not eaten by the farmer. As the first fruits of the field are sacred, so is Isra’el, the first-fruits set apart to God. The mention of first fruits implies that He expects a later harvest of the goyim.

All who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them (see my commentary on Exodus Cv – The Amalekites Came and Attacked the Israelites at Rephidim). Although it was Jeremiah’s belief that those nations were carrying out God’s will, he knew that they were not motivated by any high or noble motive. For them it was simply a matter of aggression and lust for conquest, for which they would be punished. And disaster overtook them declares the LORD (2:3b). There is a principle written into Scripture that has held true down through the centuries. It was first told to Abram, but it still holds true today. ADONAI said: I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse (Genesis 12:3a). The contrast between this beautiful state and the sad unfaithfulness of the years that followed are reported next.

On Changing Gods: Hear the word of ADONAI, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Isra’el. This is what YHVH says: What fault did your ancestors find in Me, that they strayed so far from Me? God committed no wrong in the relationship. So the tone of the initial question is like the hurt of a wounded lover. They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. Isra’el had gone after the gods of Canaan and in the process became as useless to God as a rotten loincloth (see Dx – A Linen Loincloth). The apple of His eye had become like the gods she served (Psalm 115:8). The Hebrew word hebel is the same as used in Ecclesiastes and there it is regularly translated meaningless, pointless or vanity. It conveys vapor or unreality, an appearance that has no real substance.³⁰ Not only was the honeymoon over . . . the whole relationship had fundamentally changed. What had been a happy marriage and a joyous offering had been deeply perverted, seemingly beyond repair.

What makes idols worthless? The short answer is that they are not divine and cannot save. Idols are a substitute for the real thing: counterfeit gods. Today it seems that people are not without their little gods of religious activity. Instead of believing in nothing, they are tempted to believe a little in everything in their search for “solutions” in this life. They search for the god within, and thus, worship themselves. Worthless!

They did not ask, “Where is ADONAI, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives? Isra’el forgot their gracious delivery out of Egypt. He said: I brought you into a fertile Land to eat its fruit and rich produce. Ha’Shem, unlike Isra’el was true to His word. How good the relationship used to be! But you came and defiled My Land with idol worship and made My inheritance detestable (2:4-7). How things had changed!

Then the LORD gives the indictment against Isra’el . . . The priests Levites did not ask, “Where is the LORD?” Those who deal with the Torah did not know Me (2:8a). Their whole relationship with Elohim was reduced to nothing (Hosea 4:4-10). False shepherds (23:1) rebelled against Me. Priests no longer provided serious leadership. Judges forgot the central commitment to justice. Rulers forgot that power is a trust from YHVH. Jeremiah discerned the collapse of public institutions.

The prophets prophesied by Ba’al and followed worthless idols (2:8b), and broke both the first and second commandments (Exodus 20:3-4). Isaiah mocked the making of these worthless idols (see my commentary on Isaiah Hy – Worship the LORD, Not Idols). Despite various revivals under Asa, Hezekiah and Josiah, the people continually reverted to the deities and rituals of Canaan. Here ADONAI raises the deeply personal matter in a highly intense and emotional way. An intimate relationship had been broken down, and this had produced strong feelings of anger and hurt on God’s part. This is a divine lament, and to hear it in these opening verses is important to the interpretation of the scroll as a whole. So Yirmeyahu begins with a portrayal of YHVH in deep anguish and pain.³¹

Having clearly shown the faithlessness of the people, Jeremiah used an image of a court case to focus on the seriousness of Isra’el’s sin. Therefore, I bring charges (Hebrew: rib, a legal term for filing a lawsuit as in Micah 6:1-2) against you again, declares ADONAI. And I will bring charges against your children’s children (2:9). If the audience thought it could get off by agreeing with the failures of the Eli priesthood, to scribes over the years who wrote about YHVH but did not know him, to irreligious kinds from Jeroboam son of Nebat (First Kings 11:26) to the more recent Manasseh, and to hordes of Ba’al and Asherah prophets who earned their place at Jezebel’s table by prophesying homegrown nonsense . . . they were wrong. Ha’Shem’s complaint was with those listening to the oracle, and more sadly still, to their grandchildren. The LORD said very plainly, “My complaint is with you!”³²

The prophet asked the Israelites to go on a “field trip” to observe the faithfulness of the Gentiles. Whether they went to the coasts of Cyprus in the west or to Kedar (north Arabian desert tribes) in the east, the results would always be the same. No pagan society had ever changed its gods (Yet they are not gods at all)? The idolatrous nations surrounding Isra’el were more faithful to their false gods than Isra’el had been to the true Master of the universe.³³ But, the LORD lamented, My people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. They were not able to determine what was real and unreal, what was true and false, and what was life giving and death dealing (Romans 1:20-25). Heaven and earth function as witnesses (Isaiah 1:2) who guarantee oaths and who observe patterns of faithfulness and fickleness. Because heaven and earth know YHVH to be the One True God (Psalm 96:11), Isra’el’s despicable response to ADONAI is exposed for what it is. In this cosmic court there is no doubt about who is the guilty party. Be appalled at this, you heavens (Deuteronomy 32:1), and shudder with great horror, declares the LORD (2:10-12).

On living water: The poem introduces the metaphor of living water and empty cisterns. My people have committed two sins. Note that in spite of their sins, God calls Isra’el my people (2:11, 13, 31-32) and children (3:14, 22) and is still identified as your God (2:17,19) and your Master (3:14). Once again, the exiled Israelites are in view here. First, ADONAI says: They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water (2:13a).

And, second, God laments: They have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water (2:13b). The dryness of the summer months in Palestine, and the absence of large rivers, together with the scarcity of springs in many places, makes it necessary to collect into cisterns the rains which fall, and the waters which fill the small streams in the rainy season. This has been the custom in that land from very early times. These cisterns are either dug in the earth or cut out of the soft limestone rock, and there are several kinds. Sometimes a shaft is sunk like a well, and the bottom widened into the shape of a jug. Digs of this sort combine the characteristics of cisterns and wells, since they not only receive the rain that is conducted into them, but the water that percolates through the limestone. Another kind consists of chambers excavated out of the rock, with a hole in the roof. Again, an excavation is made perpendicularly, and the roof arched with masonry. Some are lined with wood or cement, while others are left in their natural state.

Sometimes they are entirely open at the top, and are then entered by steps, or, in the case of large ones (and some are very large), by flights of stairs. When they are roofed, a circular opening with a lip at the top, and a pulley, with a rope and bucket is provided. This is referred to in Ecclesiastes 12:6, and the pulley is broken at the cistern.³⁴ With proper care the water may be kept sweet for a time; however, even with the best of care, even those hewn from solid rock are bound to crack. So the water collected from the clay roofs or from marly soil has the color of weak soapsuds, the taste of the earth or the stable, is full of worms, in filthy condition, and not to be compared with the pure water from living fountains. At any time the cisterns are liable to break and leak. So these cisterns are now broken and they cannot hold water. This is one of the images of apostasy that we will see in Chapter 2.

This verse is one of the most beautiful and meaningful passages in the entire prophecy; it is applicable today. People still turn from the life-giving source and, with incredible labor, make substitutes that inevitably disappoint them. The verse continues an earlier thought, those who pursue worthlessness become worthless themselves (2:5). A thirsty person who turns to an empty cistern will become even more thirsty.³⁵ There will surely be a plucking up and a tearing down of one so faithless, who in this poem is none other than Yerushalayim.

Yeshua returned to the living water metaphor with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well when He said: Everyone who drinks this water (from Jacob’s well) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the [living] water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14). And later at the last and greatest day of Sukkot, He declared: Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Holy Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:37b-39).

Such a critique of the life of God’s people invites every generation of His people to reexamine its own commitments. As is common with the prophets, the criticisms of Yirmeyahu here do more than explain what was wrong in his own day, they also intend to ask subsequent generations to examine our lives and witness.

The Faithlessness of Judah
2:1 to 3:5

During the reign of Josiah

The flow of thought within this unit basically consists of an opening divine memory of the “honeymoon” with Isra’el (2:1-3), followed by an explosion of metaphors – especially the marital metaphor – that speaks with great intensity about the breakdown of the marriage (2:4 to 3:5). This material interweaves reflections, questions, accusations, complaints about enemies, and other matters, as is characteristic of human laments (see Psalm 13).

Nearly every indictment that ADONAI brings up in this section has to do with either the first (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Dk – You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me), or second commandment (see the commentary on Exodus Dl – You Shall Not Make For Yourselves an Idol). Only in 2:34 do issues of social justice come into play. Only when the issue of the relationship with God has been clearly laid out as the fundamental problem do such symptoms of that brokenness appear (here and later). The marital metaphor assumes both promise and commitment on the part of both parties. The indictment focuses on the breaking of this commitment by Isra’el by committing spiritual adultery with other gods. Given this focus, little is said about future judgment (2:36-37), and even Babylon is not specifically in view. That will come later (20:4-6), but now the call to repentance is front and center (3:11-14), and a promised future is stated very clearly (3:15-18).

This section presents an anatomy of evil, documented with evidence from past and present sins.²⁶ This is a vivid picture of the fallen nature of mankind. As presently situated prior to the calls for repentance in 3:6 to 4:4, this material is preaching designed to elicit repentance, not to write Isra’el’s epitaph. The point here was not to merely dwell on the past (though that was necessary), but to chart some possible ways of moving forward together. By the time this was being read by the exiles, judgment had already fallen. But Jeremiah’s message meant that ADONAI still wanted a relationship with them and whatever measure of judgment they had experienced, God had not rejected them. At the same time, Ha’Shem was profoundly concerned about their faithfulness in the relationship.²⁷

Judah’s Guilt and Punishment
2:1 to 6:30

Judah’s guilt and punishment REFLECT: Choose one verse or phrase from these chapters that stands out to you. This could be something you’re intrigued by, something that makes you uncomfortable, something that puzzles you, something that resonates with you, or just something you want to examine further. Write a paragraph about it.

During the reign of Josiah

In 627 BC God sent Jeremiah to Jerusalem to give a series of messages to the people of Judah. Following the account of Yirmeyahu’s commission is a collection of oracles, prose and poetic, that seems to have come mainly from his early ministry midway through the reign of Josiah who was the most receptive of all the kings to his radical message. Despite much repetition, a progression of thought can be discerned. God’s people have been faithless (2:1-37). The Lord calls His people to return (shuwb) to Him (3:1 to 4:4). ADONAI warns that if His people fail to return (shuwb), He must punish them by sending an enemy from the north (4:5-31). Then the next chapter restates the faithlessness of YHVH’s people and warns again about the invasion (5:1-31), and the final chapter (6:1-30) sums up the dreaded message of the whole section. These chapters deal with the near total apostasy of Judah and the inevitable foreign invasion that served as ADONAI’s retribution.

The portrait of Jeremiah that began to emerge in the first chapter is enriched. We see the prophet maturing before our eyes, from the youth who pled his inexperience (1:6), through the eager preacher, calling expectantly for a verdict (3:22), then the careful searcher who seeks facts, not emotional opinion (5:1). We see the grief of Yirmeyahu endured as God’s messenger (4:19). We see him close to the breaking point as he tries to keep his anger . . . Ha’Shem’s anger . . . held in check (6:1). And finally we see his mature realization of his role. He is ADONAI’s assayer, who discovers that Judah, instead of silver, is slag metal (6:27-30). The priest from Anathoth remains a timid man who shrinks from conflict, but he has a message to deliver, and he attempts to deliver it, whatever the cost.

But more importantly, we begin to see the portrait of God emerging from the shadows. We see Ha’Shem’s stern inflexible purpose that Amos portrayed, with the divine concern for clean hands and a pure heart rather than correct ceremony. We see the bruised love that Hosea portrayed, the love of a husband whose wife had deceived and betrayed him, yet he keeps on loving her. And we begin in this section to see the LORD’s pain when His people sin. Philosophical theology doesn’t know quite how to handle this divine pain; it doesn’t fit into any system . . . so much the worse for philosophical theology. Yirmeyahu knew ADONAI, and his words help us to know the God who grieves when we go our own way.²⁵

The Call of Jeremiah
1: 4-19

The call of Jeremiah DIG: How do you think the word of ADONAI came to Jeremiah? How far back does God’s relationship with Jeremiah go? How involved was YHVH in preparing Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah)? How does God’s call make the prophet feel? How old is Jeremiah? What does HaShem say to Jeremiah to confirm his call? What did He do to him? What two object lessons did ADONAI give him? Upon what pun does the first depend? What does the second mean? Why is the LORD going to punish His people? What opposition will Yirmeyahu face in his ministry? What does he need to overcome it? What does ADONAI promise to do for him? How does Jeremiah’s call compare to Ezekiel’s call?

REFLET: It is evident from Scripture that people hear God when He speaks. I don’t think we have to insist it was in the same way that Samuel heard Him. How do you hear ADONAI? Is it a still small voice like Elijah (First Kings 19:12)? Or do you hear Ha’Shem through Scripture? Are His plans for you always clear, sometimes clear or never clear? When have you sensed the LORD being with you during times of trouble? How do you feel knowing YHVH is watching you? Frightened? Secure? Why? Do you ever plead inadequacy in order to avoid getting involved with what God has called you to do?

627 BC during the reign of Josiah

“I am not made for perilous quests,” cried Frodo. “I wish I had never seen the Ring! Why did it come to me? Why was I chosen?” “Such questions cannot be answered,” said Gandalf. “You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess; not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.”
J. R. R. Tolkien, Fellowship of the Ring ¹⁵

For every believer, the concept of a divine call should be basic to the understanding of our faith. The call of Abram (see the Genesis, to see link click Dt – I Will Bless Those Who Bless You and Whoever Curses You I Will Curse) at the beginning of patriarchal history is the pivotal event referred to by Stephen at the beginning of his speech to the Great Sanhedrin (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Lg – The Great Sanhedrin) in Acts 7.

Adherents of all other religions are asked to reach out to God, but the Bible describes God as reaching out to us, searching for us, calling us. Elsewhere the direction of the call is from down upward, as people seem to touch God in their own strength and through their own devices, building towers of Babel in uninvited attempts to storm the strongholds of heaven. But in Scripture the direction of the call is reversed. The call begins in the heavens and moves down to mankind. That that difference alone is enough to expose every man-made-religion as diametrically opposed to biblical faith. The call of each prophet or deliverer in the TaNaKh occurred in a historical context that was usually precipitated by a national crisis. For Moshe it was the Egyptian crisis, for Gideon it was the Midianite crisis, and for Jeremiah it was Babylonian crisis that was destined to bring the kingdom of Judah to ruin.¹⁶

About ten years before the death of Manasseh – the most wicked king ever to sit on Judah’s throne – a fateful event took place in the land of Judah. There was nothing spectacular about it, and no one at the time could have recognized its profound significance for the nation. The event was the birth of a male child in the house of Hilkiah, one of the priests of Anathoth, a little town located slightly more than an hour’s walk northeast of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin.

The boy was preordained by God to become one of the greatest prophets of Isra’el in the TaNaKh, but at the time his father knew nothing of that. He decided to give his son the relatively common and lackluster name of Yirmeyahu.

The early years of Jeremiah’s life were crucial politically for Judah. Manasseh died in due course, and when, after only two years of rule, Amon, Manasseh’s son and successor, was murdered by palace servants, the assassination must have left its mark on the impressionable mind of the young Yirmeyahu.

With the accession of good King Josiah, however, the boy lived out the rest of his teenage years in a fair degree of peace and serenity. But “a boy’s will is the wind’s will, and the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.” Jeremiah was pleased with the religious situation as he found it in his hometown. His father was a priest of ADONAI, which made Jeremiah a “PK,” a “priest’s kid,” the equivalent of the modern-day “preacher’s kid.”

The priest from Anathoth turned out so well in later life that his father must have been the kind of man in whose word “discipline” loomed large. Hilkiah doubtless taught his son the Ten Commandments, and to love ADONAI his God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength (Deuteronomy 6:5), and to love his neighbor as himself (Leviticus 19:18), and not to walk in the step of the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers (Psalm 1:1).

The stern and dignified and unyielding character of Yirmeyahu’s later life assures us, from the human standpoint, that his father had learned the secret of disciplining him in love. Fond memories of those early years in his home must have strengthened Jeremiah and given him solace and comfort as he went about the difficult task that ADONAI commissioned him to perform. And what was that task? Yirmeyahu was to be a spokesman for God.

As a young man, Jeremiah had seen many of the evil results of pagan worship, and he perhaps longed to do something to foster and further the worship the God of his father’s. But we can be sure that he had no idea of the fearful responsibility the LORD was about to place on his shoulders.¹⁶ I like to think that, like his earlier kinsman Moshe, Yirmeyahu received his commission and made his commitment in a quiet retreat, far from the hustle and bustle of the city. When Moses received his call it was on the far side of the desert near the burning bush, at Mount Sinai. Perhaps with Jeremiah it was in a similar place. But as far as we know, the appearance of YHVH to His prophet was not nearly so spectacular as it had been to Moshe; there was no burning bush or other startling visible phenomenon.

Although Yirmeyahu did not see or feel anything, at least not at first, he heard the voice of the LORD speaking. The prophet would later write: The word of ADONAI came to me, using four verbs of calling. The four verbs all have I (ADONAI) as their subject and the suffix you (Jeremiah) as their object. God said: Before . . .

I formed you in the womb: you are mine by virtue of creation. The verb form is regularly used to describe the work of a craftsman, especially a potter (18:1-6), and Genesis 2:7 comes to mind: Then ADONAI, God, formed a man (Hebrew: adam) from the dust of the ground (Hebrew: adamah) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living being. Creation by God was an element in the call of Jeremiah, who was thereby predestined to the prophetic office before he was born. The verb formed is assumed by the other three verbs and serves as the vital pedestal on which they stand.

I formed you in the womb, I knew you: you are mine by choice. This turns everything we ever thought we knew about God around. We think that God is an object about which we have questions. We are curious about YHVH. We make inquiries about Him. We read books about God. We get into deep theological discussions about ADONAI. We drop into shul or church from time to time to see what is going on with God. We indulge in an occasional sunset or symphony to cultivate a feeling of reverence for YHVH. But that is not the reality of our lives with God. Long before we ever got around to asking questions about the LORD, He has been questioning us. Long before we got interested in the subject of God, He subjected us to the most intensive and searching knowledge. Before it ever crossed our minds that God might be important, ADONAI singled us out as important. Before we were formed in the womb, God knew us . . . We are known before we know.¹⁷

I set you apart: you are mine by virtue of consecration. ADONAI says He set Jeremiah apart. The underlying Hebrew root is usually translated holy, as in Yirmeyahu 2:3, where Isra’el is depicted as holy to the LORD, when she was in the bloom of her youth, early in her history. The words describing someone’s call in the TaNaKh often use the word holy: Moses was told to remove his sandals because the place where he was standing was holy ground (Exodus 3:5), and Isaiah heard seraphs calling to one another, Holy, holy, holy is ADONAI-Tzva’ot (Isaiah 6:3). To approach God’s presence, or to serve Him, one must be made holy, consecrated, set apart or sanctified by YHVH (Exodus 19:14). Jeremiah was set apart that he might be able to prophesy to people who, though once holy, were no longer so.

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations (1:4-5): you are mine by commission. ADONAI says He appointed Yirmeyahu as a prophet to the nations. The underlying Hebrew root is usually translated gave, the meaning appointed is a nuance in the sense of put or placed. In Jeremiah’s case, choice and consecration were followed by commission, a special commission as a prophet to the nations (Chapters 25, 46-51). Far from being restricted to only prophesying to Isra’el, Yirmeyahu’s mission was to be worldwide. Such a divine appointment could not but be expected to produce such a reluctant response . . . a negative response . . . from the priest from Anathoth.

With God in your world, you aren’t an accident or an incident; you are a gift to the world. You are a divine work of art, signed by the Master. Like a famous painter who signs her name at the bottom of a magnificent painting, ADONAI has signed His name on you with the Ruach HaKodesh. He has anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (Second Corinthians 1:21b-22). We are His works of art. We are created in His image to do good deeds. However, we are significant, not because of what we do, but because of who we are.¹⁸

Even though Jeremiah had been anxious to do his part, was not Ha’Shem asking a bit too much? How could a priest from Anathoth be a prophet to the nations? What academic credentials could he produce that would qualify him for such a high position? What fame did he possess that would command the attention and respect of the nations? He had two objections.

First, Jeremiah said: Ah (Hebrew: ’aha, a term that expresses dismay or alarm; and even more, actually conveys opposition to divine self-disclosure), Adonai ELOHIM, I don’t even know how to speak (1:6a)! When we hear this, we think of Moshe. At the burning bush Moses had also given his lack of eloquence, his inability to articulate his thoughts with precision, as a reason that he hoped would release him from the responsibility of leading his people out of bondage in Egypt (see the commentary on Exodus Av – I Am Slow of Speech and Tongue). Like Moses, Yirmeyahu was no eager prophet!

Second, he reasoned: I’m just a young man (1:6b)! The Hebrew word naar may mean a child or an infant as we see in Exodus 2:6 and First Samuel 4:21, but it can also mean a young man of marriageable age. The latter, of course, is intended here. Jeremiah may have been in his late teens or early twenties when God called him. Isaiah said: Here am I. Send me (Isaiah 6:8b)! But Yirmeyahu wasn’t quite so anxious, he said, “I’m too inexperienced!” Since wisdom came with experience and age in the ancient world, how could ADONAI expect Jeremiah, as young as he was, to accept such a daunting task?

Centuries later, how could Rabbi Sha’ul expect the young Timothy to set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity (First Timothy 4:12)? Can one suppose that such a young man will flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart (Second Timothy 2:22)?

Yirmeyahu would someday learn not to boast in wisdom, strength, or riches, but rather to boast about his understanding of the LORD and His kindness, justice and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:23-24). But for now his response was characterized by the timid reluctance that usually comes with youth and immaturity.

YHVH’s words of reassurance to Jeremiah not only repeat in essence the content of the divine call but also responded to his twofold objection. Verses 7-9 parallel verses 17-19. And in addition, verses 7-9 echo Deuteronomy 18:18 in such a remarkable way that they assuredly reflect Yirmeyahu’s consciousness of being a prophet like Moshe. Each following verse of the LORD’s reassurance to His prophet is a distinct unit.

Divine authority: But ADONAI said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m just a young man.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you” (1:7). To Jeremiah’s objection that he is just a young man, the LORD responds that He will give him the courage to go to everyone he is sent to. And to Yirmeyahu’s objection that he doesn’t even know how to speak, YHVH responds that He will give him the ability to say whatever he is commanded to. “Never mind that you a merely a young man, I am with you!”

Divine presence: To Jeremiah’s timidity, Ha’Shem responds with the command: Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the LORD (1:8). The form of reassurance is significant. In his mission Jeremiah will not be free from danger and hardship; but God will be his Rescuer. The latter phrase is repeated in 1:19, a phenomenon evident also in the call of Gideon (Judges 6:12 and 16) and in a profoundly important theological context, the account of the call of Moshe (Exodus 3:12 and 14), where it is linked to the most intimate form of the divine name: I AM Who I AM.

The readers of Yirmeyahu would be able to see themselves and their recent history as the key reason for Jeremiah’s call. The prophet was called because of them! The readers are the “them” of verse 8, when God said: Don’t be afraid of them! They are the ones who threatened God’s prophet and from whom he must be rescued (1:18-19). The readers are those who worshiped other gods and became the object of God’s judgment in and through other nations (1:15-16). With this visionary introduction, readers would be able to see more clearly that it was their apostasy that had caused their own judgment. At the same time, Jeremiah’s call holds up a word of hope for them; its subject is ADONAI.¹⁹

God, as the great I am, doesn’t intend by that name to teach us about His undeniable existence but to assure us of His gracious, protecting, and permanent presence. As Immanuel, God With Us, He guarantees that He will never leave us or forsake us. Central in the three sentences of divine reassurance, the Immanuel theme is also a central feature of Scripture as a whole. For example, Matthew begins his gospel by presenting Yeshua Messiah as God with us (Mattityahu 1:23) and concludes it by recording Jesus’ words: I am with you always (Matthew 28:20). The Bible begins with ADONAI, God, creating mankind for fellowship (Genesis 1:18, 2:7 and 3:8) and ends with John’s prayer: The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people (Revelation 22:21).

Divine touch: Then ADONAI reached out His hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put My words in your mouth” (1:9). Analogous to the seraphs touching the sinful lips of Isaiah (Isaiah 6:6-7), ADONAI responds to Yirmeyahu’s professed lack of speaking ability by symbolically touching his mouth. The Hebrew word put is literally given, also found in Deuteronomy 18:18 and Jeremiah 5:14 in this sense. God had given Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nations (1:5), so now He had given Yirmeyahu His words of assurance to help him fulfill his divinely ordained mission.²⁰ In other words, “Just go where I tell you and repeat what I say to you. No experience is necessary!”

See, today I appoint you as an overseer over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant (1:10). Four of the metaphors are verbs of destruction and two metaphors are verbs of restoration. The A–B–C–C–B–A chiasmus provides an explanation for the order of these verbs. The agricultural terms (A) enclose the construction terms (B), which in turn enclose the military terms (C). The first four metaphors are words of judgment on the nations, but the last two are words of salvation. From the beginning, the book of Jeremiah signals that the prophet’s word will not simply be about judgment, however powerful that word will prove to be. No word of judgment will be God’s final word to Isra’el.²¹

A to uproot,

B to tear down,

C to destroy,

C to overthrow,

B to build,

A to plant.

These verbs anticipate the whole message of Yirmeyahu. The prophet would clearly have preferred to speak about the building and planting, but he did comparatively little of this constructive preaching and a great deal of the destructive kind.²²

How did Yirmeyahu make the transition from the shuffling, excuse-making: Ah, God I’m just a young man to the iron pillar career of accepting the assignment of a prophet? God equipped him for life by showing him two visions that led him from inadequacy to obedience.

The vision of the almond tree: As if out on a walk, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah and said: What do you see, Yirmeyahu? “I see the branch of an almond tree,” he replied. ADONAI said to him, “You have seen correctly, for I AM watching to see that My word is fulfilled” (1:11-12). The almond tree is the first tree to blossom in Isra’el in the spring. When the white blossoms of the almond tree appear, the people know that spring is near. There is a word play, or pun, in the original language. The Hebrew word for watching sounds like the Hebrew word for almond tree. Shaqed means almond. The root of this word means to be awake, to be watchful, or to be alert. It became the name for the almond tree because it is the first shrub to awaken from the winters nap (but the last to bear fruit). The pink buds come out as early as January, with the fruit appearing in March. By that time the white almond blossoms fall like snow all over Isra’el. Shoqed means watching, being stirred to watch, or being awakened to watch.

It is easy to imagine Jeremiah both brooding over the whole issue of YHVH’s message to His people and wondering whether He would make the word come to pass. The prophet felt compelled to speak. Does this word, too, have power? But worrying and agonizing over this terrible question, Yirmeyahu found his attention caught by a glimpse of the almond tree. The glimpse came as an answer to his question, and the answer was in the form of a wordplay or pun. Consequently, when all seems dormant, God is watching, ready to fulfill His word. As spring always follows the blossoming of the almond tree, so ADONAI’s prophetic fulfillment would follow Jeremiah’s prophecies.²³

During his long ministry, Yirmeyahu made some near historical prophecies and some far eschatological prophecies. One of the tests of a prophet was to make a near historical prophecy . . . and if that came true then the people could then trust his far eschatological prophecy as well. But if what a prophet proclaims in the name of ADONAI does not come true, that false prophet must be put to death (Deuteronomy 18:14-22). It wasn’t very daring to prophesy something 300 years after your death. So Jeremiah’s prophecies would eventually be fulfilled after a wait of some forty years. He lived in Tziyon when the end came, and he also made some far eschatological prophecies that we can count on. The point is, whatever Jeremiah prophecies, God is watching and will make sure that it is fulfilled because God gave him the prophecy in the first place.

The vision of the boiling pot: Jeremiah’s second vision is not concerned with the power behind the word from Ha’Shem but with the message, the content, of that word. Unfortunately, both what he sees and what it means are difficult to understand. The word of the LORD came to me again, “What do you see?” “I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north” (1:13). This is the same kind of pot that Jacob was cooking when Esau came in and wanted some of his red stew. But this pot is tilted so that the scalding water was being spilled to the south. The village of Anathoth and the streets and courtyards of Jerusalem were directly in the path of its flow. ADONAI said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the Land. I AM about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares Ha’Shem. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem” (after the fall successive victorious kings will sit in formal judgment at the gates where trials were held, to determine what was to be done with the defeated population and their towns); they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah (1:14-15).

Then God spells out the reason for the judgment: I will pronounce My judgments on My people because of their wickedness in forsaking Me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their (the reader’s) hands have made (1:16). The reference to idolatry signals to the reader that the first (see the commentary on Exodus Dk – You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me) and second commandments (see the commentary on Exodus Dl – You Shall Not Make For Yourselves an Idol) are the key issue for ADONAI. All other sins cited along the way in Jeremiah are symptomatic of this split in the original readers’ relationship with God. Spiritual adultery or unfaithfulness is the most basic metaphor that the LORD will use for this breakup (see At – Unfaithful Isra’el). Yet, such a comment also recognizes the presence of a faithful remnant among the unfaithful majority.

At this point no specific nation is named, and will not be named until much later in the scroll. But the exiled readers of the book of Jeremiah knew exactly who the nation was because they were stuck in Babylon and not living in Judah! The point is that judgment is coming from the north that will destroy the Land. The reason for this judgment is the wickedness of the leadership and people of Isra’el. The rest of the book will merely add more details to these two visions. Yirmeyahu was shaped by the visions, not by the fashions of the day, not by his feelings about himself.

The charge: Yet, Jeremiah could fail (we can say “no” to God and make it stick). For his part, the prophet will need to get ready for battle. So YHVH says: Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Courage, moral and physical, was an essential attribute of the true prophet; Nathan’s fearless accusation of David (Second Samuel 12:7) and Elijah’s undaunted rebuke of Ahab (First Kings 21:19) are examples.

At the same time, God assures Yirmeyahu that he is not alone in this task: Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land – against the kings of Judah (36:26), its officials (38:1-28), its priests (26:1-24) and the people of the Land (44:1-30). Jeremiah would, indeed, have to plough a lonely furrow, with all the sections of the nation against him. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I AM with you and will rescue you, declares ADONAI (1:17-19). But this is not a word that promises Yirmeyahu a trouble free life; indeed, Ha’Shem’s rescue implies that there will be trouble ahead.

Yirmeyahu was called to prophesy in the darkest hours of Judah, when she died as a nation. He is known as the “weeping prophet,” although a more appropriate name might be the “groaning prophet,” or the “complaining prophet.” Not for his trials, although they were burdensome, but for the sins of his nation and the destruction that was to come. No one else at the time comprehended the full significance of the judgment that awaited Judah. He knew that in a very short time the proud, beautiful city of Tziyon with its magnificent Temple would be in ruins, and his beloved people would be in captivity. He also knew that Isra’el would be exiled from the Land for a long time because of her sin. No wonder he wept.

Where Isaiah was bold and fearless, Jeremiah was gentle and compassionate. Where Isaiah lived more than one hundred years before the captivity of Judah, Yirmeyahu ministered just before and during the final catastrophe. Where Isaiah foretold of judgments that were coming unless the nation turned to God, Yirmeyahu notified the nation that their final judgment was at hand, and that ADONAI had (temporarily) rejected them and that nothing could save them from their punishment.

There does come a point when, to use a boating metaphor, Israel’s disastrous trip over the falls becomes inevitable. The prophet does discern when the pull of the waterfall makes it impossible to prevent the boat from going over, when those on the boat may not realize it (4:28 for example). But the calls for repentance in Jeremiah (3:11 to 4:4) suggest that a disastrous future was not necessarily in place from the beginning.

Indeed, the book of Yirmeyahu has continuing importance for readers then and now precisely because our futures are (normally) not set in stone and because a past word of God regarding repentance may once again prove to be a lively word of possibility. How people respond to the word of God does in fact shape their future, as well as the future of others. At the same time, there may come a point in the course of the lives of individuals or communities or nations when a certain kind of future does become inevitable, when it may be too late for repentance to shape the future in a positive way. But even if this disaster should occur, the remarkable word of Jeremiah is that no trip over the falls is final.

Judah’s God is the kind of God who picks the people up from the rocks below the falls and continues to be about the business of building and planting (1:10) for the future, even when there does not seem to be much left to work with. And, then, in this continuing journey down the river, the call to repentance remains important.²⁴

Josiah Ruled For 31 Years from 640 to 609 BC

Josiah came to the throne at the tender age of eight, after the fifty-two year reign of his evil father Manasseh (Second Chronicles 33:1-25) and he reigned 31 years (Second Kings 22:1 to 23:30; Second Chronicles 34:1 to 35:27). Manasseh’s reign had been marked by political and religious regression. Politically the country was forced to submit to Assyria. The reforms started by Hezekiah had been forgotten the people had reverted to brazen idolatry, with all its impure orgies and gruesome rites practiced at the rural sanctuaries on every high hill and under every leafy tree. Superstition was rampant, interpreting omens and sorcery raised its ugly heads again, and human sacrifice was reintroduced. Manasseh himself making his own son pass through the fire of Molech. Temple worship was vigorously suppressed. Small wonder, then, that the worship of ADONAI and the study of the Torah had completely disappeared. Such was the sad state of affairs when Josiah was crowned king.

According to Second Kings 22-23 and Second Chronicles 34-35 a major reform took place in Judah during Josiah’s reign. According to Kings the entire reform – the purge of idol worship, the covenant renewal ceremony, and the celebration of Passover – took place in 622 BC. In the king’s eighteenth year, while the Temple was being repaired, the scroll of Deuteronomy was found by Hilkiah, the high priest, beneath an accumulation of rubbish. He handed it to Shaphan the scribe, who in turn read it to the king. This is sometimes called “the Second Torah” because it contains, or repeats, many of the commandments already found in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers for a new generation (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Ai – These are the Words Moses Spoke). The difference being that Deuteronomy takes many of the commandments in the other four books of Moses and puts them into a covenant system. It follows a format that was typical of covenants in the ancient world between a great king and lesser kings under him.

There were blessings spelled out for obedience, and cursings for disobedience in the scroll of Deuteronomy. Imagine the impact of that reading. Here is Josiah, disgusted with the evil of his father and determined to do something about it, but not knowing quite how. He had no blueprint, no direction, and no counsel. The only thing he inherited from his father was fifty-two years of wickedness. Now the king had this powerful scroll about the love of ADONAI and our worship of Him, clear definitions of what is right and wrong, and explicit directions on how to make moral decisions and conduct true worship.

Josiah realized the full extent of the people’s apostasy and what his father had done meant the curses of Deuteronomy were going to visit Judah unless something was done. The young king’s response was swift and commanding. He immediately put into action everything that he read. Now that he knew what true worship was, he banished every single vestige of false worship. The government-subsidized immorality was wiped out. The cult prostitutes who had special housing in the Temple were banished. The magicians and sorcerers who had set up shop in the Temple precincts were scattered. Josiah dispatched his representatives throughout Y’hudah announcing what was discovered in this scroll. Old altars were torn down and the people taught the way of faith. The muck of a half-century of corruption was shoveled out of the City, out of the Land. So in the twelfth year of his reign (629/628 BC) Josiah began a revival throughout the country (Second Kings 23:1-5, 20-21, 24), one year before Jeremiah was called to his prophetic ministry.

After the scroll of Deuteronomy was found, a covenant renewal ceremony was performed. All the false gods and images of the southern kingdom of Judah (the same ones as were in the northern kingdom of Isra’el who had already been taken away into captivity by Assyria) were destroyed. Moreover, Josiah destroyed the two golden calves in Dan and Bethel (First Kings 12:28) that had been set up by Jeroboam. The rural sanctuaries were dismantled and their priests disqualified from officiating in the Temple, though to prevent them from forming a separate religious party, and perhaps also on humanitarian grounds, they were granted an allowance. The Temple was purified and Josiah ordered the national observance of Pesach.

The reform was accomplished. Everything that a king’s commands could do were done: conspicuous crime was stopped; superstitious religion was sent packing; immoral worship was banned. And Jeremiah had a ringside seat in the arena of reform. But getting rid of evil did not make the people good. It didn’t take him long to realize that the reform was only skin-deep. Everything had changed, but nothing had changed. The outward changes had been enormous; the inward changes were hardly noticeable.¹³

The reform, however, lasted only as long as Josiah lived. Jeremiah had no doubt enthusiastically welcomed the reform, but he was soon chagrined when he realized its superficial character and how quickly the people reverted to their idolatrous abuses. The spiritual condition took a dramatic turn for the worse and was a sorry state of affairs for what remained of the once proud Isra’el. Her demise came quickly.

In 632 BC in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David (Second Chronicles 34:3a).

In 629/628 BC in his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols (Second Chronicles 34:3b).

In 627 BC Jeremiah was appointed as a prophet to the nations (1:4-5). He prophesied for about 45 years, about the same length of time Isaiah did.

In 626/625 BC Babylon became independent of Assyria and Nabopolassar became king.

In 622 BC during the king’s eighteenth year, the scroll of Deuteronomy was found in the Temple.

By 616 BC Egypt and Assyria were becoming allies as Babylon grew in power.

In 612 BC Nineveh was overthrown by a coalition of Babylonians, Medes and Scythians. Consequently, Assyria moved its capital to Harran.

In 612 BC After Nineveh fell, the Assyrian Empire was on the decline. This, along with Babylon’s rise created a realignment of power throughout the region. If a weakened Assyria could be maintained as a buffer state to halt Babylon’s westward advances, Egypt would be free to reclaim much of western Palestine, including Judah, which she had lost to Assyria earlier. Though Egypt had always feared a powerful Assyria, she was now faced with an even more powerful Babylon. So Egypt entered the conflict between Assyria and Babylon as Assyria’s ally. After Nineveh fell in 612 BC the Assyrians moved their refugee government 240 miles west to Haran in Upper Mesopotamia. Two years later, in 610 BC, the Babylonian army drove the Assyrians from Haran as well.

At this point a new Pharaoh, Necho II, ascended the throne of Egypt. He decided that the Babylonian presence at Haran was too close for comfort, so the following spring the Egyptian army marched north to try to support the remaining Assyrian forces in a last ditch attempt to retake their crumbling empire. Josiah had no liking for the march of an Egyptian army through his realm, particularly when the Egyptians were coming to the aide of Assyria, Judah’s old enemy. He therefore, attempted to block the progress of the Egyptian army at Megiddo (about fifty-five miles north of Jerusalem). But in 609 BC Josiah died at the hands of the Egyptians on the plain of Megiddo. This entire scene is summarized in a single verse in Second Kings 23:29. The news must have stunned Judah: here a king who was unparalleled in goodness (Second Kings 23:25), was struck down at the age of thirty-nine: Second Chronicles 35:20-35 records that his death was commemorated for generations.¹⁴

This event was more than a political setback. Those who practiced idolatry saw the king’s death to be a judgment upon Josiah for the gods banished by him, and so his defeat and death further undermined his reforms and gave a renewed impetus to idol-worship. Judah would then be in a spiritual death spiral that would last the entirety of Jeremiah’s forty-five-year ministry.

Unable to defeat the Babylonians at Haran, the Egyptians withdrew and the Assyrian influence over the Near East became insignificant by 609 BC (to see link click Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule).

The Introduction to Jeremiah
1: 1-3

The introduction to Jeremiah DIG: Why is it significant that Jeremiah is described as a young man? How might this have affected the manner in which his message was delivered? Received? What does God’s decision to use a young man for such a big important task teach us about YHVH? What was Jeremiah’s occupation? What does his name mean? What can you conclude about his family? His hometown? When did Josiah rule? What kind of a king was Josiah? Manasseh? When did Zedekiah reign? How long did Jeremiah prophesy? What was the fruit of his ministry? Who were his contemporaries? How did he die?

REFLECT: Jeremiah never married or had any children. What sacrifices have you made for the Lord in your lifetime? Do you think Yirmeyahu ever resented his sacrifices? Have you resented yours? Why or why not? The prophet proclaimed the word of God through one of the worst times in Isra’el’s history, but he stuck with it. What keeps you ministering through the tough times? Do you stick with it? Why?

These are the words of Jeremiah (1:1a). In most cases the prophets open their books with the singular, “the word of ADONAI,” but in this case he uses the plural because in Yirmeyahu we will have both prophecy (the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians) and history (many of the Jews being carried off to Babylon in exile in 586 BC). So the plural words indicate that God inspired both the prophetic and historical sections. The only other prophet that uses this in the plural is Amos (Amos 1:1), and like Jeremiah, his book contains both prophetic and historical sections.

Yirmeyahu was a fairly common name at that time because we know of at least nine other people in the TaNaKh that had the same name. Two of which we find in the book of Jeremiah itself, not counting the prophet. The name Yirmeyahu comes from a Hebrew root that has several options of meaning: to hurl, to exalt, or to appoint. His name is constructed with several of the letters that make up the name YHVH. So his name could mean YHVH hurls, YHVH exalts, or YHVH appoints. And throughout his book there will be emphasis placed on each of these aspects.

The only thing we know about his family is that he was the son of Hilkiah (1:1b), which means YHVH is a portion. In Jeremiah’s day the high priest was named Hilkiah, but it wasn’t the same man because that man lived in Yerushalayim, while the prophet lived in Anathoth. It is not known for sure, but there is an interesting conjecture when David became king of Judah. Abiathar served as high priest until David’s death (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Cv – The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath). But unfortunately he supported Prince Adonijah over Prince Solomon who had received David’s blessing to be king. Therefore, Abiathar was removed from the priesthood (the sole historical instance of the deposition of a high priest) and banished to his home in Anathoth by King Solomon (First Kings 2:26). It could be that Hilkiah, Jeremiah’s father, was a descendant of that exiled priest.

One of the priests at Anathoth (1:1c). The fact that Yirmeyahu’s father was a priest tells us that he was from the tribe of Levi. So Jeremiah was both a prophet and a priest. We also learn from Chapter 16 that he was never married and never had any children (see Co – You Must Not Marry and Have Sons and Daughters).

The name of his hometown, Anathoth, came from the Canaanite goddess Anath. As the wife of Baal, she was one of the most vicious and violent goddesses that the Canaanites worshiped. She supposedly went on a rampage against mankind and no detail was omitted as she strode into battle with her club and bow. “Under Anath flew heads like vultures. Over her flew severed hands like locusts. She plunged knee-deep in the blood of her enemies; neck deep in the gore of the adversary. Anath laughed, and her heart was filled with joy, for she is victorious.”

In the territory of Benjamin (1:1d). Anathoth is about three miles north of Tziyon, and from a hill in the town you can actually see the Holy City. It was a Levitical city for the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 21:18; First Chronicles 6:16). The Levites had no territory of their own and there were too many of them to all serve at the Temple, so they also functioned as the teachers of the TaNaKh for the eleven other tribes of Isra’el. After Moshe finished writing his five books, not everyone would possess a personal copy of them. So the tribe of Levi was not only responsible for preserving the Scriptures, but also for teaching them. Therefore, ADONAI instructed each tribe to assign specific cities within their boundaries that the Levites could live and teach that particular tribe.

Knowing that the fully developed, passionate personality of Jeremiah had a complex and intricate background, we prepare to examine it. But we are brought up short. We are told next to nothing: three bare, unadorned background items – his father’s name, Hilkiah; his father’s vocation, priest; his place of birth, Anathoth. We want to know more.¹¹

Something not mentioned in the book is how Yirmeyahu died. After the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, Jews who were fleeing the Babylonians took Jeremiah forcefully to Egypt. There is an old Jewish tradition that says that after the Babylonians conquered Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar took Jeremiah back to Babylon where he eventually died. There is also a Christian tradition that says that Jews in Egypt stoned him. But in 1:19 ADONAI promised that He would protect Yirmeyahu, so that tradition cannot be accurate. Most likely the priest from Anathoth died of old age in Egypt.

The word of ADONAI came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah (627 BC) son of Amon king of Judah (1:2). The word (singular) is the normal format for the prophetic setting. Yirmeyahu began his ministry during the reign of good king Josiah. He was a young man, probably between 25 to 30 years old. That means he was born during the reign of one of the most evil kings in the history of Judah. The wicked Manasseh fathered Josiah. It was because of Manasseh’s reign that Yirmeyahu was called to be a prophet to a doomed nation. ADONAI had already decreed the destruction of Tziyon and Josiah’s godly reign merely gave the nation a temporary reprieve, but did not cancel its ultimate judgment.

Therefore, Jeremiah ministered through the reign of Jehoiakim, down until the end of Zedekiah’s reign in his eleventh year (586 BC) when the people of Jerusalem went into exile (1:3). He prophesied a little past Zedekiah, Judah’s last king, to at least 585 BC, and perhaps even to 580 BC. For about 45 years he proclaimed the word of ADONAI, but he failed to get any kind of response among the people of Y’hudah. He was even called a false prophet because 40 years passed before his initial prophesies were fulfilled.

He prophesied after Isaiah, Hosea and Micah. They had already come and gone when Jeremiah was called to ministry. There were, however, other prophets who were his contemporaries. During the early days of his ministry Naham, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, were prophets and Huldah was a prophetess (Second Kings 22:14-20; Second Chronicles 34:22-28). In the latter days of his ministry he was a contemporary of Ezeki’el and Dani’el.

The phrase when the people of Jerusalem went into exile provides the finishing point of the book. It is an awesome and dreadful formula. It is a clue to the intent of the word of ADONAI and a signal to the nature of the book. The word is on the move toward exile. Nothing more needs to be said. Nothing the kings can do will alter the outcome, and it is as though the die is cast even before Yirmeyahu appears.

Therefore, the book of Jeremiah is an unwelcomed offer. If we enter, we are invited to accompany the painful, genuinely unthinkable process whereby the Holy City is denied its special character and is handed over, by the intent of YHVH, to the ruthlessness of Babylon. Kings, of course, never believe history works that way. Kings imagine that their royal decisions shape history. But Yirmeyahu asserts otherwise. God steers the historical process toward exile. That is where disobedient Judah finally finds herself. No escape is available. In fact, escape is not even hoped for because that would be a hope counter to the sovereign will of the LORD. The ending is now willed through His word. And when it is spoken, the ending will not go away. We only wait and watch for the ending to materialize. Therefore, the book of Jeremiah is a witness to that long and torturous watch.¹²

The Lack of Chronological Arrangement

Unlike Ezeki’el, whose prophecies are arranged in chronological order, Jeremiah has no chronological progression. In fact, many of Yirmeyahu’s prophecies that are placed together are actually years apart. He compiled his prophecies in stages. For example, many of Jeremiah’s prophecies against the Gentile nations were written early in his ministry (25:1, 13-14). Yet the content of these prophecies is recorded near the end of the book (46:1 to 49:33). One must look for some other way to arrange the book so the reader is not jumping around trying to make sense of it all. Accordingly, I have taken a historical approach to the organization of the book:

Josiah Ruled For 31 Years from 640 to 609 BC

Jehoahaz Ruled For 3 Months in 609 BC

Jehoiakim Ruled For 11 Years from 609 to 598 BC

Jehoiachin Ruled For 3 Months in 598 BC

Zedekiah Ruled For 11 Years from 597 to 586 BC

Gedaliah Ruled For 3 Months in 586 BC

ADONAI was in control the whole way!

The Problem of Holy War in the TaNaKh

You must destroy all the peoples ADONAI your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you (Deuteronomy 7:16).

These harsh words are shocking in the context of the TaNaKh. They are part of an address delivered by Moses to the Israelites, assembled on the plains of Mo’ab. Moses, speaking on behalf of ADONAI, was preparing His people for the conquest and conflict, which happen immediately. God is a tender warrior (see the commentary on Genesis, to see link click Ec – When Abram Heard Lot Had Been Taken Captive, He Went in Pursuit as far as Dan). The pre-incarnate Yeshua ha-Meshiach is the commander of ADONAI’s army (Joshua 5:15a), there is a Book of the Wars of the LORD (Numbers 21:14a), and He commanded His chosen people to engage in a “holy” war (First Samuel 17:45). Holy War differed from other kinds of war in that Ha’Shem Himself led the army. The result was to be total annihilation of all living things and the devoting of all material properties to YHVH, as seen below in the cherem judgment.

This call to war seen in Deuteronomy 7:16 is complemented by commandments in Deuteronomy 20 that are again presented as part of Moshe’s address at the base of Mount Sinai. In Deuteronomy 20:10-18, a two-part military policy of conquest is presented. First, when the Israelites came to cities lying outside the Promised Land, they were to offer terms of a peace treaty. If their offer was rejected, they were to lay siege the city and kill all the men, but the women and children could be spared and taken as the spoils of war. But the second part of the policy applied to cities lying within the territory of the Promised Land. They were to be besieged, and after they had fallen, all living creatures, men, women, children, and animals were to be killed.

It is helpful to compare these ancient commandments given to the Israelites with the theory of Carl von Clausewitz, a Prussian soldier and student of war (1780-1831 AD). Von Clausewitz defined war as “an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.⁷ As a part of his analysis of war he made an important and necessary distinction between the theoretical or abstract conception of war, on the one hand, and real wars on the other hand. From a theoretical perspective, war must end in victory for the aggressor, for otherwise it would be pointless to start a war in the first place. If complete victory was to be obtained, then no effort could be spared; for von Clausewitz, “to introduce into the philosophy of war itself a principle of moderation would be absurd.”⁸ Thus, the reality of war was quite different from the abstract notion of war.

Von Clausewitz argued that from a military perspective there were three principle objectives of war. First, the military power of the enemy must be destroyed, so that the enemy could no longer continue a war. Second, the enemy’s country must be conquered, for from that country a new military force could arise. And third, war could only end when the enemy’s will to fight had been crushed.

Now let’s look at the commandments of war in Deuteronomy in the light of the theory of von Clausewitz. Clearly Deuteronomy 20 describes wars of conquest, by which the Israelites imposed their (and God’s) will on Gentile nations. It is also obvious that those commandments dealing with their enemies did not introduce the principle of moderation, but were thoroughly pragmatic in a military sense. Although the cities outside of the Promised Land were to be treated less harshly than those within it, that distinction was merely a part of the overall military policy. They would eventually become neighbors of the new state of Isra’el and would receive a warning concerning Isra’el’s military capability, but they were not the prime military targets. Those cities within the Promised Land, however, were an entirely different story. However, in the cities of the nations ADONAI your God is giving you as an inheritance do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them – the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites – as the LORD your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against ADONAI your God (Deuteronomy 20:16-18). Here all three of von Clausewitz’s military objectives would be achieved in three verses. The military power of the Israelites enemies would be destroyed, the countries could be conquered so that no new military threat could emerge, and the will of the enemy would be mortally subdued.⁹

This command was, however, essentially theoretical, and as von Clausewitz pointed out, there could be a difference between the theory of war and the reality and practice of war. True to form, the Israelites did not obey Deuteronomy 20:16-18 in every instance. But when they refused to obey the commands of ADONAI they always suffered. When King Sha’ul was unwilling to completely destroy the Amalekites (see the commentary on Esther Aq – Haman the Agagite: The Enemy of the Jews), the Israelites would eventually swallow the poison pill of idolatry. It was left up to Esther and Mordecai to finish the job (see the commentary on Esther Bm – So the Jews Struck Down All Their Enemies with the Sword, Killing and Destroying Them). But the problem remains – wars were carried at the command of God, in the name of God, and with the help of God. Can there be a holy war?

First, we must understand that our total depravity is real and insidious. Very early in the Bible we read: The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). Paul describes the Gentiles as darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart; they have become callous and have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness (Ephesians 4:18-19). His description of sinners in Romans 1:18-32 and Titus 1:5, as well as of the men of the last days in Second Timothy 3:2-5, focus on their corruption and desperate wickedness. Those who do not surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ are doomed. For anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4). All who are not adopted into the LORD’s family (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does For Us at the Moment of Faith) will ultimately be set apart for destruction (see the commentary on Revelation Fo – The Great White Throne Judgment).

Thus, total depravity does not mean that the unregenerate person is totally insensitive in matters of conscience, or of right and wrong. For Paul’s statement in Romans 2:15 says that the Gentiles have the Torah written on their hearts, so that their conscience also bears witness and their thoughts accusing them. Further, total depravity does not mean that the sinful man is as sinful as he can possibly be. There are unregenerate people who are genuinely unselfish, who show kindness, generosity and love to others, who are good, devoted spouses and parents. But any or all of those actions do not save a person from God’s wrath. Salvation is like a test with a thousand questions and only one that counts. Do you admit that you are sinner, have you asked Yeshua for forgiveness and accepted Him as your Lord and Savior? Finally, total depravity does note that the sinner engages in every possible form of sin.

What then do we mean by the idea of total depravity? First, sin is a matter of the entire person. The existence of sin is not merely one aspect of the person, such as the body or reason. Further, it means that even the lost person’s unselfishness always contains an element of improper motive. The good acts are not done entirely or even primarily out of perfect love for ADONAI. The Pharisees who so often debated with Jesus did many good things (Matthew 23:23), but they had no real love for God. So He said to them: You search the Scriptures (which was of course good), because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to Me; yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you (John 5:39-42). A genteel layer of charm and graciousness sometimes covers sinfulness. The lost can be so very pleasant, thoughtful, helpful, and generous. At times it’s hard to think of them as being completely sinful and in need of salvation. We need to remember that total depravity is not defined in terms of what we may regard as unpleasant. It is, rather, failing to love, honor, and serve God. So even the likeable and kindly person is in need of the Good News as much as any obnoxious, crude and thoughtless person. Finally, total depravity means that the lost are completely unable to free themselves from their sinful condition. Rabbi Sha’ul writes: And [Yeshua] made you alive when you were dead through the transgressions and sins in which you used to live . . . But because of His great love for us, ADONAI, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and that not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast (Eph 2:1, 4 8-9).¹⁰ Consequently, when we examine the problem of holy war in the TaNaKh, we need to keep the doctrine of total depravity in mind. Without willing obedience to YHVH, those cute little Canaanites would grow up to be idol-worshiping Canaanites.

Lastly, there is a concept in the TaNaKh called the cherem judgment of ADONAI. Cherem means to be devoted to destruction. When conquering the Land after forty years of wilderness wanderings the LORD declared the city of Jericho and all that is in it are to be devoted to destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies [that were] sent in. But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Then they devoted the city to ADONAI and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it – men, women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. Then they burned the whole city and everything in it (Joshua 6:17-18, 21 and 24a).

But Achan son of Carmi, son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah took some of the devoted things. So by using the Urim and Thummim (see my commentary on Exodus Gb – The Urim and Thummim: The Means of Making Decisions), Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, then clans, then the Zerahites and Zimri was taken. Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to ADONAI, the God of Isra’el, and give Him the praise. Tell Me what you have done; do not hide it from me.” Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Isra’el. When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylon, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath (Joshua 7:1, 16-21).

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD (Josh 7:22-23).

So Joshua, together with all Isra’el, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters (and presumably his wife), donkeys and sheep his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor, or the Valley of Trouble. Joshua said: Why have you brought this trouble on us? ADONAI will bring trouble on you today. Then all Israel stoned him, and after that they stoned the rest, they burned them (Joshua 7:24-25).

When Moses spoke to the Israelites before leaving on their journey to the Promised Land saying that they were to completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites – do not leave anything alive, those pagan nations were being devoted to destruction by a Holy God; therefore, it became a holy war.

The Owl as a Symbol of Judgment

In every single instance (without exception) the owl is a symbol of judgment in the Bible:

The following creatures of the air are to be detestable for you – they are not to be eaten, they are a detestable thing: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, the screech-owl, the seagull, the various kinds of hawks, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the horned owl, the pelican, the barn owl, the stork, the various kinds of herons, the hoopoe and the bat (Leviticus 11:13-18 CJB).

You may eat any clean bird; but these you are not to eat: eagles, vultures, ospreys, kites, any kind of buzzard, any kind of raven, ostriches, screech-owls, seagulls, any kind of hawk, little owls, great owls, horned owls, pelicans, barn owls, cormorants, storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes or bats (Deuteronomy 14:15-17 CJB).

When I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness. The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me. I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls. My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever. My lyre is tuned to morning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing (Job 30:26-31).

ADONAI, hear my prayer! Let my cry for help reach You! Don’t hide Your face from me when I am in such distress! Turn Your ear toward me; when I call, be quick to reply! For my days are vanishing like smoke, my bones are burning like a furnace. I am stricken and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. Because of my loud groaning, I am just skin and bones. I am like a great owl in the desert, I’ve become like an owl in the ruins (Psalm 102:1-6 CJB).

Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; there no nomads will pitch their tents, there no shepherds will rest their flocks. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill their houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will inhabit their strongholds, jackals her luxurious palace. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged (Isaiah 13:19-22).

I will rise up against them, declares the LORD almighty. I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors, her offspring and descendants says ADONAI. I will turn her into a place for owls and into swampland; I will sweep her with the broom of destruction declares the LORD almighty. (Isaiah 14:22-23).

For ADONAI has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause. Edom’s streams will be changed to tar, its dust to sulfur, its land burning tar that will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise forever. In all generations it will lie waste; no one will pass through it ever again. Horned owl and hawk will possess it, screech owl and raven will live there; he will stretch over it the measuring line of confusion and the plumbline of empty void. Of its nobles, none will be called to be king, and all its princes will be nothing. Thorns will overgrow its palaces, nettles and thistles its fortresses; it will become a lair for jackals, and enclosure for ostriches. Wildcats and hyenas will meet there; and billy goats call to each other; Lilit [the night monster] will lurk there and find herself a place to rest. There the hoot owl will nest, lay her eggs, hatch and gather her young in its shade (Isaiah 34:8-15 CJB).

A sword against the Babylonians declares ADONAI – a drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror. So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation (Jeremiah 50:39).

After describing God’s judgment against Samaria and Jerusalem, Micah said: Because of this I will weep and wail; I will go about barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl. For Samaria’s plague is incurable; it has spread to Judah. It has reached the very gate of my people, even to Jerusalem itself (Micah 1:8).

ADONAI will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert. Flocks and herds will lie down there, creatures of every kind. The desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns. Their hooting will echo through the windows, rubble will fill their doorways, the beams of cedar will be exposed. This is the city of revelry that lived in safety. She said to herself, “I am the one! And there is none beside me.” What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists (Zeph 2:13-15).

Yirmeyahu would see the tragic results of Judah’s judgment first hand. The book of Lamentations gives us a glimpse of his devastation. He is called “the weeping prophet” for good reason. Secular historians would record the near historical judgment of Babylon. But the far eschatological judgment of MYSTERY BABYLON (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Er – Babylon Will Never Be Found Again) can be found in Jeremiah itself (51:39-43 and 61-64). And there we find the owl.

The Book of Jeremiah From a Messianic Jewish Perspective

To Cesar, a good friend and faithful servant to the Word of God. The glue behind the scenes.

The exodus and the exile of the southern kingdom of Judah are, in one respect, the twin poles around which the TaNaKh revolves. The exodus and the exile are frequent themes in the prophetic writings. In the exodus the people were freed from slavery; in the exile they became enslaved once again. There is something symbolic about the fact that one of the last acts of the people of Judah in Tziyon was to re-enslave the slaves that they had freed just prior to the destruction of their City (34:11). Jeremiah (Hebrew: Yirmeyahu) was the primary prophet of Judah during the dark days leading to her destruction. Though the light of other prophets, such as Habakkuk and Zephaniah, flickered in Judah at the time, Jeremiah was the blazing torch that, along with Ezekiel in Babylon, exposed the darkness of Judah’s sin with the piercing brightness of God’s Word. He was a weeping prophet to a wayward people.¹ To see a short video on Jeremiah click here.

The Use of the New International Version

Because I am writing this commentary on Jeremiah from a Jewish perspective, I will be using the New International Version unless otherwise indicated. There will be times when I substitute Hebrew for English names using the Complete Jewish Bible by David Stern. But generally I will be using the NIV translation for the Jewish perspective.

The use of ADONAI

Long before Yeshua’s day, the word ADONAI had, out of respect, been substituted in speaking and in reading aloud for God’s personal name, the four Hebrew letters yud-heh-vav-heh, variously written in English as YHVH. The Talmud (Pesachim 50a) made it a requirement not to pronounce Tetragrammaton, meaning the four-letter name of God, and this remains the rule in most modern Jewish settings. In deference to this tradition, which is unnecessary but harmless, I will usually be using ADONAI where YHVH is meant.² In ancient times when the scribes were translating the Hebrew Scriptures, they revered the name of YHVH so much that they would use a quill to make one stroke of the name and then throw it away. Then they would make another stroke and throw that quill away until the name was completed. His name became so sacred to them that they started to substitute the phrase the Name, instead of writing or pronouncing His Name.

Over centuries of doing this, the actual letters and pronunciation of His Name have been lost. Today, the name of G-d is treated with honor and respect. In the Jewish tradition, in order to show respect, the name of the L-rd or G-d is written without the vowel. The idea is that if a document with His Name on it is destroyed or deleted, His Name will be spared because it was not written out fully. As a result, today the closest we can come to the original is YHVH, with no vowels. The pronunciation has been totally lost. Therefore, the names Yahweh or Jehovah are only guesses of what the original name actually sounded like. Both ADONAI and Ha’Shem are substitute names for YHVH. ADONAI is more of an affectionate name like daddy, while Ha’Shem is a more formal name like sir. Therefore, God does not have many names, He has only one name – YHVH (Yud Hay Vav Hay). All the other names in the Bible describe His characteristics and His attributes. Hear, O Isra’el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is One (Deuteronomy 6:4). The Jewish tradition, then, forbids the pronunciation of the Divine Name, and many choose to use ADONAI in its place.

The use of TaNaKh

The Hebrew word TaNaKh is an acronym, based on the letters T (for “Torah”), N (for “Nevi’im,” or the Prophets), and K (for “Ketuv’im,” or the Sacred Writings). It is the collection of the teachings of God to human beings in document form. The term “Old Covenant” implies that it is no longer valid, or at the very least outdated. Something old, to be either ignored or discarded. But Jesus Himself said: Don’t think I have come to abolish the Torah and the Prophets, I have not come to abolish but to complete (Matthew 5:17 CJB). I will be using the Hebrew acronym TaNaKh instead of the phrase, the Old Testament throughout this devotional commentary.

The Use of the Terms Judah and Isra’el

Jeremiah does not use these terms consistently because by this time the northern kingdom of Isra’el had gone into captivity in 722 BC. Sometimes he uses the terms interchangeably and sometimes he uses them distinctly. There is no pattern.

Jeremiah the Man

We receive a greater glimpse into the life of Jeremiah than we do any other prophet. The book contains quite a bit of biographical material. This is unusual for the writing prophets. Only Jonah contains more biographical material. God told him he was not to marry, and his obedience was amazing because if anyone ever needed a wife it was Yirmeyahu. He was very introspective and a lonely man. He could have profited by the companionship of a wife. But it wasn’t his choice. Unlike some of the other prophets, he tells us how he feels and his internal spiritual struggles. Yirmeyahu was a very emotional man, at least when he was writing. His writing style is flexible, very lyrical. It is a very strong and powerful style, but at the same time there is a certain delicacy about it. Jeremiah is very bold in terms of style and content. The book as a whole has a certain majestic beauty about it. Jeremiah lived in a period of storm and stress. He is the most pathetic prophet in the Bible. He was a prophet of doom against himself. Yirmeyahu knew that there was no chance that the kingdom of Judah was going to repent. And yet, he had to keep prophesying. There was nothing he could do to avoid the catastrophe he knew was coming. Amid the brightest stars of the TaNaKh there is not a name that shines brighter than that of Yirmeyahu.

The Authorship and Date

The author of the book is Jeremiah son of Hilkiah (1:1). His ministry extended from the thirteen years of the reign of Josiah (1:2) until the Judeans captured him and took him to Egypt. As a result, he prophesied from 627 BC to probably at least 582 BC.

Jeremiah in the Scriptures

Jeremiah occurs in Second Chronicles 36:21, Matthew 2:17 (quotes from Jeremiah 31:15), Matthew 16:14 (a man of sorrows), and Matthew 27:9 (potters field). There are 41 direct quotations or references in the New Testament, 26 of them in Revelation.

Key word: shuwb

The key word in Jeremiah is shuwb, meaning to repent (from evil), to return, or to turn back (to something or someone good). This is a significant Hebrew verb and embodies the essence of Yirmeyahu’s message. This verb occurs 1,059 times in the TaNaKh and some 48 times in Jeremiah alone. No other book has this concentration of that verb. I will be inserting the word (shuwb) in the text when it is used. Sometimes there will be a word like faithless or apostasy where the Hebrew word is actually mshuwabh, a feminine noun that actually comes from shuwb, when it is used I will insert (from shuwb).

The Theology of Jeremiah

There are a number of theological issues that the priest from Anathoth deals with: (1) the word of ADONAI is indestructible. There are two ways that people will try to destroy it: by changing the wording or by changing the meaning to fit what they already believe (Second Timothy 4:3); (2) God is sovereign; (3) the LORD is both omniscient (all knowing) and omnipresent (present everywhere at the same time). He is well aware of Judah’s sins, both public and private; (4) Elohim demands obedience. No obedience, no blessing – only judgment; (5) messianic prophecies, the God-Man concept; (6) the sinfulness of mankind; (7) that Judah and Isra’el will be punished because of specific disobedience to the Torah; (8) Yirmeyahu announces the coming of the New Covenant (31-31-34) that will displace the Mosaic Covenant, which will lead to Isra’el’s final restoration; (9) eschatology – Jeremiah does not mention the Second Coming as such, but he does mention the restoration and reestablishment of the throne of David, the messianic Kingdom and the Great Tribulation.

The Use of Different Terms for the People of God

Yisra’el is but one of several terms used to signify the people of God. It is used several times (31:1-2, 4, 10, 21, 23, 27, 31, 36-37) as are the terms virgin (31:4,21), Judah (31:23, 27, 31), Jacob (31:7-11), Ephraim (31:6, 18, 20) and Rachel (31:15). Zion (31:6, 12 and Chapters 38-40) and even Samaria (31:5) are also employed to refer to the people in their various political and geographical forms.³ There is no pattern.

The Debt of Jeremiah to Hosea

A succession of commentators over the years has recognized the close relationship between Jeremiah and Hosea. The resemblance between the two prophets appears not only in the use of language and figures but extends to fundamental ideas on ADONAI and His relationship with Isra’el. We may speculate how this came about. Hosea was a prophet of the northern kingdom of Isra’el. Anathoth, the birthplace of Yirmeyahu, lay north of Tziyon and not very far from the southern border of Isra’el. Moreover, Jeremiah’s family was probably descended from Eli, the priest of Shiloh. So there were both family and geographical links to the north, and Hosea, a shining example of the North Israelite piety, may well have played a significant role in his early development and training. Either Jeremiah’s father or some godly teachers conveyed to Yirmeyahu the great traditions of Israel’s faith and her unique relationship to YHVH in the covenant, her election, and the profound obligation laid on her as a result of this. That tradition shines through the prophets’ preaching.

One of Hosea’s great words was hesed, meaning loyalty or faithfulness. It was the LORD’s complaint against Yisra’el that there was no faithfulness (hesed) in the land (Hosea 4:1). He desired steadfast love (hesed) more than sacrifice (Hosea 6:6), but sadly, Israel’s love (hesed) was like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears (Hosea 6:4). She needed to sow righteousness and reap the fruit of unfailing love (Hosea 10:12) and maintain love and justice (Hosea 12:6). In the far eschatological future Isra’el would be His bride again in faithfulness (hesed) (Hosea 2:21). Yirmeyahu had spoken of the happy days when Isra’el first followed ADONAI into the wilderness, through a land not sown, recalling the devotion (hesed) of her youth, and her love for Him as a bride (Jer 2:2).

Jeremiah used the metaphor of a son for Isra’el. It was in the mind of God to treat Isra’el as a son and having redeemed him from Egypt to give him a pleasant land and a beautiful heritage. This figure has a parallel in Hosea 11:1. When Isra’el was a child (na’ar) YHVH loved him, called him from Egypt, and nurtured him despite his rebellious ways. Jeremiah’s development of the theme is essentially the same. The LORD had hoped that Isra’el would call Him, “My Father,” but as a faithless wife deserts her husband so Isra’el proved faithless. Yirmeyahu combined the metaphors of a son and a wife in Jer 3:19-20.

Another idea that Yirmeyahu held in common with Hosea was the knowledge of God (Hebrew: da’at Elohim) in the Land (Hosea 4:1), and it was ADONAI’s people were destroyed because of their lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Jeremiah likewise complained on God’s behalf: Those who deal with the Torah did not know (Hebrew: yada) Me (Jeremiah 2:8 CJB). Again: My people are foolish – they do not know Me, they are stupid children without understanding (Jeremiah 4:22 CJB). To know YHVH was to be committed to Him with a profound personal commitment that totally touched the person’s life. In the days of the New Covenant all will know Me from the least to the greatest (Jeremiah 31:34). Hosea likewise envisioned a day in the far eschatological future when the LORD would be betrothed to His people, returning to the days’ of courtship . . . and in faithfulness they would know Him (Hosea 2:20).

The picture of Ha’Shem’s lawsuit (Hebrew verb: rub) against Isra’el appears in Hosea 4:1-3. The covenant lawsuit is a well-known feature in the TaNaKh. Hosea pictured Isra’el as being called upon to answer ADONAI in the matter of certain failures on her part to show knowledge of God (da’at Elohim). Jeremiah also uses the term (rub) in a slightly different sense. The LORD had a lawsuit (rub) against the nations (Jeremiah 25:31). The priest from Anathoth was under great pressure from his foes (Yirmeyahu 11:20, 20:12, 50:34, 51:36) because the prophet was committed to God’s cause (rub). Even if the word lawsuit was not used it was clear that Yirmeyahu was laying a charge against Isra’el throughout his ministry (Jeremiah 15:10), and issuing a threat of judgment against them in which the land itself would share (Hosea 4:1-3). Hosea specifically spoke of  YHVH’s lawsuit (sub) against the priests (Hosea 4:4-10). Jeremiah also had strong things to say against the priests (Yirmeyahu 2:8 and 26-27, 4:9, 5:31, 13:13, and so on).

Both Hosea and Jeremiah express wonderment that Isra’el could have turned (shuwb) her back on YHVH in the face of all He had done for them. According to Hosea, no sooner had Isra’el reached the Promised Land, the home ADONAI had prepared for His bride, and there discovered that love meant loyalty, than she rebelled (Hosea 2:5-8, 9:10). Not that it surprised Him, but God had to face the disheartening fact that the love of His people would last no longer than the morning mist (Hosea 6:4). Yirmeyahu took up the same question but took it one step further. To him, Isra’el’s disloyalty required an explanation, and all the more so because the Gentiles to the west and to the east were not guilty of changing loyalty to their gods as Isra’el had done. Judah had substituted a helpless idol in the place of her God (Jeremiah 2:10-22). The remarkable thing was that the goyim really weren’t losing anything because their idols were already powerless. But Yisra’el had forsaken the LORD, a spring of running water, for dry cisterns that could not hold water (Yirmeyahu 2:12-13).

Both Yirmeyahu and Hosea idealized the wilderness period as a time when Isra’el’s faith was uncontaminated by the corrupting influence of the Canaanite worship of Ba’al (Jeremiah 2:1-3; Hosea 11:1). But her fall was staggering. Such apostasy devastated the very foundations of family morality (Hosea 4:4). Both prophets emphasized the relationship between the inherent sensuousness of this false worship and the ethical motives of love, trust, and gratitude that a true relationship with God demanded and produced. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served the created thing rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25; Jeremiah 2:5, 11 and 13; Hosea 9:10).

Both Hosea and Jeremiah struck a strong note of repentance. Three passages in Jeremiah, 3:22-25, 14:7-10 and 14:19-22, represent “confession of sin” of the type Yirmeyahu believed the people should make. Isra’el is pictured as confessing to YHVH; that their wickedness testified against them and that ADONAI alone was her hope and savior in a time of trouble; and asking why Ha’Shem had rejected them. They acknowledged their sins and asked Him not to break His covenant with them. Such confessions remind us of Hosea 6:1-3 and 14:2-3 where Isra’el is pictured as saying: Come, let us return to the LORD, confessing that Assyria would not save us, and asking God to take away their iniquity.⁴

Seven Complaints

More than any other prophet of the TaNaKh Yirmeyahu saw his relationship with ADONAI to be a problem to be grappled with, more than simply an obligation to be taken for granted. There had been other prophets who spoke for God, great ones, in past times – Elijah and Amos, Hosea and Micah and Isaiah. But one finds, in reading through the pages that record their words and deeds, that once they became convinced that the LORD was calling them to speak, they spoke, and that was that; so far as our record goes, no question crossed their minds regarding the nature of their calling.

Jeremiah, however, while he went ahead and spoke, nonetheless hesitated before accepting the task and continued to question and complain about the way YHVH was treating him. The term complaint is maybe not the ideal one since the passages consist of prayers, laments, confessions, disputes and objections. In his capacity and willingness to dispute and doubt, he stands out from most of the people in the pages of the Bible; and this capacity and willingness brings him close to us. For while there are many people in our day who are willing to undertake a life of faith lived under Ha’Shem’s guidance and care, there are few who do not at some point question or complain about His ways . . . or wanted to.⁵

To see the links, click on the letters below:

1. Ax – Oh, Adonai ELOHIM, Surely You Have Deceived This People
2. Bj – The Plot Against Jeremiah
3. Bk – Why Does the Way of the Wicked Prosper?
4. Cm – Woe to Me, Mother, That You Gave Me Birth
5. Cs – Heal Me ADONAI, and I Will Be Healed, Save Me and I Will Be Saved
6. Cx – Jeremiah’s Response to a Threat Against His Life
7. Db – You Deceived Me, LORD, and I Have Been Deceived

Ten Symbolic Actions

Jeremiah made a good deal of use of the symbolic action. But there are examples in the TaNaKh of such symbolic actions before and after Yirmeyahu’s day. In the ninth century in the days of King Ahab a prophet Zedekiah ben Chenaanah made horns of iron for himself and declared to Ahab of Yisra’el and Jehoshaphat of Judah: With these [iron horns] you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed (First Kings 22:11). In Elisha’s day, the prophet told Jehoash king of Isra’el to shoot arrows in the direction of Syria to symbolize Isra’el’s forthcoming victory over the Arameans (Second Kings 13:14-19).

In the eighth century BC, symbolic actions were associated with both Isaiah and Hosea. Thus, Isaiah went stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and warning against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared – to Egypt’s shame (20:3-4). Even the naming of his children with symbolic names was a symbolic act (see the commentary on Isaiah Cf – The Sign of Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz).

Hosea’s marriage to Gomer was a symbolic enactment of the relationship of Isra’el to YHVH. Hosea the faithful husband symbolizes Ha’Shem, and Gomer the unfaithful wife symbolizes Yisra’el. The names of Hosea’s children are likewise symbolic of the judgment of ADONAI on Isra’el: Jezreel (God sows) indicated that the LORD would soon demand from the house of Jehu the blood of Jezreel and the massacre of the royal family (Second Kings 9-10); Lo Ruhamah (she who is not pitied) symbolized that God would have no pity on the house of Isra’el; and Lo ‘Ammi (not-My-people) symbolized YHVH’s rejection of His people.

Ezekiel also employed symbolic actions on several occasions. He sketched the siege of Jerusalem on a large mud brick (Ezekiel 4:1-2). He lay on his side like one paralyzed for a long period of time to symbolize the guilt of Judah and her punishment. The lack of provisions in Tziyon during the siege of Nebuchadnezzar was symbolized by Ezekiel taking only small quantities of bread and water (Ezekiel 4:9-11). And the life in exile was symbolized by his eating unclean food (Ezekiel 4:12-17). Ezekiel shaved off his hair and beard, then burned, smote and scattered it to the winds to symbolize the fate of the inhabitants of the City of David (Ezekiel 5:1-17). Ezekiel used other symbolic actions to symbolize the advance of the Babylonian army (Ezekiel 12:1-20), the distress of the people of the Holy City during the Babylonian siege (Ezekiel 21:19-23), the paralyzing grief of the Jews in Babylonia at the fall of Yerushalayim (Ezekiel 24:1-14), the second deportation of the people of Judah (Ezekiel 24:15-27), and the reunion of the two kingdoms into one in the far eschatological future (Ezekiel 37:15-28).⁶

When we come to Jeremiah specifically and find that he too performed ten symbolic actions, what might be called parables in action. It is clear that he was in a long tradition of making good use of these symbolic actions that carried on long after his death. As in the case with all parables it is wrong to search for meaning in every detail. This only leads the reader to allegorize the text which is a hindrance to sound biblical interpretation.

To see the links, click on the letters below:

1. Co – You Must Not Marry and Have Sons and Daughters in This Place
2. Cw – At the Potter’s House
3. Cz – Judah is Like a Broken Jar
4. Dt – The Rechabites
5. Dx – A Linen Loincloth
6. Eq – Judah to Serve Nebuchadnezzar
7. Et – The False Prophet Hananiah
8. Fi – In This Same Way Babylon Will Sink, Never to Rise Again
9. Fs – Jeremiah Buys a Field
10. Gi – Nebuchadnezzar Will Burn Down the Temples of the gods of Egypt