Calvary
Chapel Bible College
October
21, 2020
Homework Review
I hope you took the “quiz” about your reading as well as those for your
memory verse and prayer requests.
Would anyone like to try reciting our memory verse for the week?
(Jeremiah
20:9 NKJV) Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak
anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in
my bones; I was weary
of holding it back, And I could not.
Class Project – At our last class of the semester I’m going
to ask each of you to present a 5-minute Bible Study on a passage of your
choice from Jeremiah. Pick a passage
that has meant something to you personally.
It can be one of our memory verses. I want you to teach as if you were
doing a devotional to a small home group that has not been in Jeremiah with
us. I want you explain your passage,
give one point of application from your passage, and share an illustration
about the principle.
I think I’d like you to each pick a different passage, so when you decide
on your passage, let me know and no one else will get to use your passage.
You can use powerpoint, but you don’t have to.
Introduction
His name means “Yahweh appoints”
Jeremiah was the chief prophet during the days of the destruction of the
nation of Judah. There were other
prophets around at the time as well:
Daniel, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, but Jeremiah was the main
prophet. His ministry began about 60 years after the death of the prophet
Isaiah.
Jeremiah was born into a family of priests, but he would function more as a
prophet.
His ministry was destined from the beginning to be a ministry of
“failure”. The people were not going to
pay attention to him. The people were on
the way downhill and destined for judgment.
One of Jeremiah’s nicknames is the “weeping prophet”.
It’s possible this nickname comes from the book of Lamentations,
also written by Jeremiah.
Lamentations is Jeremiah’s weeping over the destruction of
Jerusalem.
It’s not a bad thing to keep in mind though as you read this book. We don’t often hear the “emotion” of the
writer as we read.
The prophecies are not in chronological order.
We know this because he dates many of his prophecies.
Look at today’s chapters (36-38) – we will start early, and end up late.
Jeremiah 36
36:1-8 Jeremiah makes a written record
:1 Now it came to pass in
the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this
word came to Jeremiah from the Lord,
saying:
:1 in the fourth year of Jehoiakim
We now skip backward to the year 605 BC. This is the first year of the
reign of Nebuchadnezzar. This is also the year that Daniel and others are taken
in the first captivity to Babylon.
It’s also the same year as Jeremiah 25
:2 “Take a scroll of a
book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel,
against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from
the days of Josiah even to this day.
All of Jeremiah’s prophecies up to this point are to be written down.
Probably written on a scroll of papyrus sheets pasted together and rolled up
sideways.
:3 It may be that the
house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon
them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their
iniquity and their sin.”
God is hoping that the people will hear the messages and repent.
:4 Then Jeremiah called
Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the
instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord
which He had spoken to him.
Baruch is Jeremiah’s attendant and scribe. He was the fellow that held on
to Jeremiah’s real estate transaction (Jer. 32) when Jeremiah bought the land
from his cousin.
Jeremiah dictates his prophecies to Baruch.
:5 And Jeremiah commanded
Baruch, saying, “I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the Lord.
confined – Jeremiah’s probably not in jail, but he’s restricted from
going into the Temple.
:6 You go, therefore, and
read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the words of the
Lord, in the hearing of the
people in the Lord’s house on the
day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who
come from their cities.
:7 on the day of fasting
Baruch was supposed to read Jeremiah’s prophecies to the people on a day
when they got together to seek the Lord, a day of “fasting”.
This could be a reference to the Day of Atonement, but we’ll see the timing
is off.
Yet before Jerusalem was wiped out, days of fasting were sort of like
unplanned emergency procedures.
After the fall of Jerusalem, certain days became annual days of fasting.
:7 It may be that they
will present their supplication before the Lord,
and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the
fury that the Lord has pronounced
against this people.”
:7 everyone will turn
from his evil way
Lesson
Goal: Repentance
Sometimes God’s message is one of kindness and goodness.
(Romans 2:4 NKJV) Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and
longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
God’s hope is that people would turn from their sin.
Sometimes the message is one of judgment, producing fear, such as in
Jeremiah’s day.
(Jude 22–23 NKJV) —22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire,
hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
Whether the message is one of compassion or one of judgment, God’s heart is
the same, for us to turn from our sins and turn to Him.
(2 Peter 3:9 NKJV) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count
slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.
:8 And Baruch the son of
Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading
from the book the words of the Lord
in the Lord’s house.
36:9-19 The scroll is read
:9 Now it came to pass in
the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth
month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people
who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
:9 fifth year … ninth month
It seems that Baruch has had this scroll of Jeremiah’s prophecies all ready
to go, and it’s not until a couple of months later that an actual “fast” day is
called.
The fast is called in December, 604 BC.
Yom Kippur is around September/October.
This is interesting because a document called the “Babylonian Chronicle”
reported that Nebuchadnezzar was in Palestine at this time collecting “tribute”
(taxes) from all the nations that he had conquered. It was also in this same month that
Nebuchadnezzar captured the Philistine city of Ashkelon, located on the coast
of the Mediterranean, about 40 miles east and south of Jerusalem.
Perhaps Jehoiakim has called for the fast in order to ask God to help with Nebuchadnezzar’s
tribute.
Perhaps it was just that April 15 (Tax Day) was right around the corner.
:10 Then Baruch read from
the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the
scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, in the hearing of all the
people.
Baruch reads the scroll in the Temple.
Is this the first time it’s been read? If it is, then depending on how the
time has been calculated (it gets tricky some times) it’s been as much as nine
months since Jeremiah and Baruch have written out these prophecies.
Note: Do you remember
our study on Shaphan the scribe and his godly family (Jer. 26)? Look where all this is taking place.
:11 When Michaiah the son
of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the book,
Michaiah is a good guy. He’s one of the priests.
:12 he then went down to
the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and there all the princes were
sitting—Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of
Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
:12 down to the king’s house
The king’s palace is just down
the hill from the Temple.
Video: Palace and Temple
These are leaders. Some are politicians, some are priests. They seem mostly
to be good guys.
:13 Then Michaiah
declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in
the hearing of the people.
:14 Therefore all the
princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of
Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have
read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took
the scroll in his hand and came to them.
:15 And they said to him,
“Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their
hearing.
Baruch reads the scroll a second time, now for these spiritual leaders.
:16 Now it happened, when
they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and
said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.”
:16 they looked in fear from one to another
They’re shook up by what is in the scroll.
I wonder if they’re shook up because of what God was saying about them or
because they were afraid of what the king would do when he found out what
Jeremiah had written.
We’re in a better place when it’s God’s Word that shakes us up.
(Isaiah 66:5 NKJV) Hear the word of the Lord, You who
tremble at His word…
:17 And they asked
Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words—at his
instruction?”
:18 So Baruch answered
them, “He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them
with ink in the book.”
He simply wrote it out word for word.
:19 Then the princes said
to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are.”
:19 Go and hide, you and Jeremiah
They have a notion that Jeremiah and Baruch are going to get into trouble
with this.
Jehoiakim was the king who didn’t like prophets telling him he was
doomed. One prophet, Urijah (Jer. 26:20),
had run away to Egypt, but Jehoiakim had sent his agents to Egypt and had the
fellow brought back and executed.
36:20-32 Jehoiakim destroys the scroll
:20 And they went to the
king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the
scribe, and told all the words in the hearing of the king.
:21 So the king sent
Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe’s chamber.
And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the
princes who stood beside the king.
:22 Now the king was
sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on
the hearth before him.
It’s a cold December day. Jehoiakim is sitting in the warmest room in his
palace, the “winter house”.
:23 And it happened, when
Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the
scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth,
until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.
The scroll was written in columns.
As Jehudi would finish reading a couple of columns, the king would cut
those columns off and throw them into the fire.
They would read, cut, and burn until the entire scroll was read and
destroyed.
Oh my. Isn’t it horrible that this
scroll of Jeremiah was burned up and we’ll never see it again?
:24 Yet they were not
afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who
heard all these words.
God’s Word just bounces off their hearts. Seems to have no affect.
:25 Nevertheless
Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but
he would not listen to them.
:26 And the king
commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah
the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the
Lord hid them.
:27 Now after the king
had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch had written at the
instruction of Jeremiah, the word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah, saying:
:28 “Take yet another
scroll, and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll
which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.
:29 And you shall say to
Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘Thus says the Lord:
“You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written in it that the king
of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast
to cease from here?’ ”
:30 Therefore thus says
the Lord concerning Jehoiakim
king of Judah: “He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his
dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.
:31 I will punish him,
his family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have
pronounced against them; but they did not heed.” ’ ”
:31 I will punish him, his family…
Jehoiakim thought that he didn’t have to pay attention to Jeremiah’s
scroll. He probably thought it was simply stirring up revolt among the people.
Because he refused to pay attention, he was going to bring judgment on
himself.
At his death, he would not receive a proper funeral. His son would only
reign for three months before being taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon.
His brother (Zedekiah) would be appointed king in place of his son.
It’s a picture of what God warns about concerning His Word:
(Revelation
22:18–19 NKJV) —18 For I testify to everyone who hears
the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God
will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy
city, and from the things which are written in this book.
:32 Then Jeremiah took
another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote
on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim
king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many
similar words.
:32 Jeremiah took another scroll…
Lesson
God’s Word Endures
(keyword)
The Waldenses were considered heretics by the Roman Catholic Church in the
middle ages because they held strictly to the teaching of the Bible. They
considered the Bible like an anvil. They had a saying:
Hammer away ye
hostile hands!
Your hammers break;
God’s anvil stands.
Illustration
No other book has survived the centuries unaltered as has the Bible.
Voltaire once said, “The Bible will be a short-lived book.” The years
proved Voltaire to be wrong and the very house in which he lived was used to
store Bibles.
The Communist dictionary issued by the Soviet State Publishing house
describes the Bible as a “Collection of fantastic legends without scientific
support.”
Lenin once declared, “I expect to live long enough to
attend the funeral of all religion.” Lenin has long since been dead (and the
Soviet Union is gone), the Bible has never been more alive.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) once stated, “Within 50 years the Bible will be a
forgotten Book.” But years later, the very press he used to print this
statement was being used to print Bibles.
Dr. Calvin Evans
Lesson
God’s Word is supernatural
The Bible is not like any other book of “religious” literature.
It has a unique, supernatural quality about it.
We believe that the Bible is God’s Word – it is how God has spoken to man.
One of the things that gives us an idea that this is how God has spoken is
through the Bible’s unique ability to prophecy about events before they happen,
with 100% accuracy.
Fulfilled prophecy is one of the great objective things we can point to as
to why the Bible has God’s fingerprints on it.
Only God can tell the future.
(Isaiah
46:9–10 NKJV) —9 Remember the former things of old, For I am
God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring
the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My
counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’
One of the hundreds of examples is a prophecy concerning the ancient city
of Tyre, a prophecy made by Ezekiel about 20 years after the fall of Jerusalem,
a prophecy with very specific details.
The prophecy is found in Ezekiel 26
and contains the following elements:
1. Nebuchadnezzar will destroy the mainland city Tyre (26:8).
2. Many nations would come against Tyre (26:3).
3. It would be scraped down to the bare rock; flat like the top of
a rock (26:4).
4. Fishermen will spread nets over the site (26:5).
5. Debris would be thrown into the water (26:12).
6. Never be rebuilt (26:14).
7. Never to be found again (26:21), or, it would never return to
it’s former glory.
Yet these were the exact things that would happen to this
city that seemed to be unconquerable.
Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Tyre for 13 years (585-573
B.C.). When he finally broke into the
city, he found it mostly empty. The
people had fled by boat to an island a half mile off shore. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed this mainland city
in 573 BC, yet the city continued for years on the island.
When Alexander the Great came through in 333 BC, he
decided he wanted to conquer Tyre. He
took the rubble of the old mainland city and used it to build a causeway 200
feet wide out to the island city which he then conquered. He scraped the old site clean to make this
cause way. It took seven months to
conquer Tyre. When they finally broke
into the city, eight thousand inhabitants were put to death and thirty thousand
were sold into slavery.
The city rebuilt after Alexander and one nation after
another would come against it including the Muslims who eventually leveled it
for good in 1291 AD. There is a modern
city of Tyre, a small fishing village, but it’s located a few miles from the
original city.
Peter Stoner has calculated the odds of these seven
prophecies coming true at 1 in 75,000,000.
There may be times when you struggle with wondering if God’s Word is any
different from other “religious books”.
It is totally different. There
are no other religious writings with this kind of accurate, specific,
predictive prophecy.
(2 Timothy 3:16–17
NKJV) —16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work.
When the Bible tells us that there is only one way to heaven, it’s not a
matter of us being narrow minded, it’s a matter of us listening to what God
Himself has said about coming to Him.
(John 14:6 NKJV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
The Scripture is “God-breathed”.
It’s got His DNA in it. We ought
to be using it to guide our lives.
Break
Jeremiah 37
Jeremiah 37-43 are historical more than prophetic and take us through the
fall of Jerusalem.
37:1-10 Babylon will be back
:1 Now King Zedekiah the
son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
:1 King Zedekiah the son of Josiah
We have now skipped forward in time 21 years, very close to Jerusalem’s
destruction.
Zedekiah was the last king of Judah before the Babylonians wiped out
Jerusalem.
:2 But neither he nor his
servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet
Jeremiah.
Even though Zedekiah will seem to show great interest in what God has to
say, he doesn’t do what God says.
(James 1:22 NKJV) But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves.
:3 And Zedekiah the king
sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the
priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Pray now to the Lord our God for us.”
:3 Pray now to the LORD our God for us
This sounds like a good thing. The
Egyptian army has moved north and is about to chase the Babylonians away from
Jerusalem. Zedekiah is thinking that
perhaps God might use this to bring them deliverance. So he asks God to help this situation.
Lesson
God’s deliverance
Your idea of deliverance may not be God’s idea of deliverance.
When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they cried to God to deliver
them.
(Exodus 2:23–25
NKJV) —23 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died.
Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out;
and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard
their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and
with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of
Israel, and God acknowledged them.
God answered their prayers by sending them a reluctant deliverer, Moses.
As Moses began to negotiate with Pharaoh to set the Israelites free, things
didn’t exactly go very well.
(Exodus 5:6–9 NKJV)
—6 So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and
their officers, saying, 7 “You shall no longer give the people
straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made
before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out,
saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let more
work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard
false words.”
They had cried out to God for deliverance, but instead of things getting
easier, they got harder.
(Exodus 5:20–21
NKJV) —20 Then, as they came out from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who
stood there to meet them. 21 And they said to them, “Let the Lord look on you and judge, because you
have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his
servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
Did God ever deliver the Israelites from bondage in Egypt? Yes.
But before it got easier, it got harder.
Moses tried to comfort and encourage the people….
(Exodus 6:9 NKJV) …but they did not heed Moses,
because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.
Sometimes when we’re in need, we think we have just the solution for God to
use.
The person that wants to get married looks at some model in a magazine and
thinks, “This must be the one, God help it to be so …”
The person who has financial problems sees a particular job online and
knows that this job will solve all their problems, “God help me get this job”.
God may indeed work this way for some folks, but don’t be surprised if God
wants to work another way. I’m not
saying we shouldn’t pray, but when we pray we should be open to letting God
work the way He wants to.
:4 Now Jeremiah was
coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in
prison.
:5 Then Pharaoh’s army
came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard
news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
Chaldeans – another name for the Babylonians
:5 Pharaoh's army came up from Egypt
This was Pharaoh Hophra who reigned from 589-570 B.C.
Pharaoh sent his army north to support Zedekiah against Babylon. His army made the Babylonians retreat. Hophra left before actually engaging in any
battles with the Babylonians. When he
left, the Babylonians came back.
This all took place around the time that Zedekiah had made the people
promise to release their slaves (Jer. 34).
They did this hoping to please God and find deliverance from
Babylon. But when the Babylonians left,
rather than keeping their promise of freeing their slaves, they took their
slaves back.
:6 Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah,
saying,
:7 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Thus you
shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold,
Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own
land.
:8 And the Chaldeans
shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with
fire.” ’
:9 Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not deceive yourselves,
saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,” for they will not depart.
:10 For though you had
defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there
remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in
his tent, and burn the city with fire.’ ”
:10 wounded men …burn the city with fire
This wasn’t exactly what Zedekiah wanted to hear. He was probably hoping that Jeremiah would
declare that the whole Babylonian threat was over. Instead, he promised that they’d not only
come back, but that there was nothing that could keep the Babylonians from
wiping out Jerusalem.
37:11-21 Jeremiah in prison
:11 And it happened, when
the army of the Chaldeans left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of
Pharaoh’s army,
:12 that Jeremiah went
out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there
among the people.
:12 to claim his property
Jeremiah’s family was from Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin.
Back in Jeremiah 32, we have
the incident where Jeremiah purchased part of the family plot. This was supposed to have been a thing to
show the people that once again the land would have value.
That apparently took place AFTER this because Jeremiah was in prison when
his cousin visited, and he doesn’t go to prison until the next few verses.
Jeremiah apparently had already been thinking about buying the property.
God had already put it on his heart when God tole Jeremiah that his cousin was
going to ask Jeremiah to buy the property.
When we look at Jer. 32, don’t think that it was miraculous that God told
Jeremiah ahead of time that his cousin would offer the property without any
warning, but that he showed up when Jeremiah had been unable to get out of
town.
:13 And when he was in
the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was
Irijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the
prophet, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!”
The guard at the gate thinks that Jeremiah must be a traitor, heading out
to the Babylonians to get more orders or perhaps to simply defect.
:14 Then Jeremiah said,
“False! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.” But he did not listen to him. So
Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.
:15 Therefore the princes
were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison in the
house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison.
:16 When Jeremiah entered
the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,
:16 the dungeon and the cells
The Hebrew is “in the house of the
cistern, in the vaulted rooms”
Apparently Jonathan’s house had one or more cisterns, pits dug into the
rock to hold rainwater, that had been converted into a prison.
:17 then Zedekiah the
king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house,
and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?”
And Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, “You shall be delivered into the
hand of the king of Babylon!”
:17 Is there any
word from the Lord?
Zedekiah is a very troubled, conflicted man.
More than once you are going to see him going to Jeremiah and asking what
God thinks.
:18 Moreover Jeremiah
said to King Zedekiah, “What offense have I committed against you, against your
servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
:19 Where now are
your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come
against you or against this land?’
Jeremiah reminds Zedekiah about who the real prophets were.
:20 Therefore please hear
now, O my lord the king. Please, let my petition be accepted before you, and do
not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
Jeremiah is in his sixties. He’s
afraid that if he’s thrown into the cistern again that he would die.
:21 Then Zedekiah the
king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah to the court of the prison, and
that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers’ street, until
all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the
prison.
piece of bread – probably a loaf of bread.
Jeremiah is allowed to stay out of the cistern for now and stay in the
courtyard instead.
Jeremiah 38
38:1-13 Jeremiah sinks in the cistern
:1 Now Shephatiah the son
of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur
the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people,
saying,
:1 heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken
While Jeremiah was being held in this courtyard, he had the ability to keep
speaking to the people. These four fellows were important government leaders.
Gedaliah the son of Pashhur – his dad may have been the fellow that had had
Jeremiah beaten and put into stocks (Jer. 20)
Jucal the son of Shelemiah – was sent by Zedekiah to ask about a word from
God concerning the siege of Jerusalem (37:3).
Pashhur the son of Malchiah – the fellow sent by Zedekiah to ask about
Babylon’s initial attack on Jerusalem (21:1-2)
:2 “Thus says the Lord: ‘He who remains in this city
shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to
the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall
live.’
:3 Thus says the Lord: ‘This city shall surely be given
into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’ ”
This isn’t the politically correct thing to say at this time. He’s
predicting that the home team is going to lose.
:4 Therefore the princes
said to the king, “Please, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens
the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the
people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare
of this people, but their harm.”
:4 he weakens the hands of the men of war
To these fellows, Jeremiah was a traitor. He was discouraging people from
fighting for Jerusalem.
:5 Then Zedekiah the king
said, “Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing
against you.”
It sounds like Zedekiah was a bit intimidated by these guys.
:6 So they took Jeremiah
and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in
the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the
dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.
:6 cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah
dungeon – bowr – pit,
well, cistern
In the last chapter, Jeremiah was being put into the prison at the house of
Jonathan the scribe (37:15). Apparently Jonathan had a dried out cistern that
had been converted into a prison.
Now Jeremiah is thrown into another cistern. This one is a bit more
muddier. He begins to sink in the mud.
:7 Now Ebed-Melech the
Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had
put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,
:7 Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs
Ebed-Melech – “servant of the king”
Ethiopian – he’s a foreigner, likely a black man.
eunuchs – men were castrated so they could look after the women
without fear of them taking advantage.
He reminds me of another Ethiopian eunuch.
(Acts 8:26–39 NKJV)
—26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go
toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This
is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a
man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the
Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to
worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah
the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go
near and overtake this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him
reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said,
“How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit
with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he
read was this: “He was led
as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened
not His mouth. 33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will
declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.” 34 So the
eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this,
of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and
beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they
went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here
is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip
said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he
answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 So he
commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down
into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when
they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so
that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.
I think I like these Ethiopian eunuchs.
This man is a friend of Jeremiah, willing to put his life and reputation on
the line to save his friend.
:8 Ebed-Melech went out
of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying:
:9 “My lord the king,
these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet,
whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in
the place where he is. For there is no more bread in the city.”
:9 no more bread in the city
This is a hint that the siege is nearing its close.
Famine is setting in.
The Babylonians are getting ready to break into the city.
:10 Then the king
commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with
you, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.”
Thirty men not just to lift Jeremiah out of the cistern, but probably also
to guard him from the other guys as well.
:11 So Ebed-Melech took
the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and
took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the
dungeon to Jeremiah.
The room under the treasury was where the access was to the cistern.
The rags were used as padding to keep the ropes from cutting into
Jeremiah’s arms.
:12 Then Ebed-Melech the
Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Please put these old clothes and rags under your
armpits, under the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so.
:13 So they pulled
Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained
in the court of the prison.
:13 lifted him out of the dungeon
I would imagine that Jeremiah felt a little like what David wrote,
(Psalm 40:1–3 NKJV)
—1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. 2 He also brought me up out of a
horrible pit, Out of the
miry clay, And set my
feet upon a rock,
And established my steps. 3 He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to
our God; Many will
see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord.
38:14-28 Jeremiah tells Zed to surrender
:14 Then Zedekiah the
king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of
the house of the Lord. And the
king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”
:15 Jeremiah said to
Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death?
And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”
:16 So Zedekiah the king
swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the Lord lives, who made our very souls, I will not put you to
death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”
:16 the king swore secretly to Jeremiah
I have a hard time believing Zedekiah. Perhaps he means to do well, but his
past actions make you wonder what will happen next.
:17 Then Jeremiah said to
Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord,
the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely surrender to the king of
Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned
with fire, and you and your house shall live.
:18 But if you do not
surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into
the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not
escape from their hand.’ ”
:17 If you surely surrender
Everything will be fine if Zedekiah would just surrender.
Like Zedekiah, we have a problem with learning to surrender.
:19 And Zedekiah the king
said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans,
lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me.”
:20 But Jeremiah said,
“They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the Lord which I speak to you. So it shall
be well with you, and your soul shall live.
:21 But if you refuse to
surrender, this is the word that the Lord
has shown me:
:22 ‘Now behold, all the
women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be surrendered to
the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say: “Your close
friends have set upon you And prevailed against you; Your feet have sunk in the
mire, And they have turned away again.”
:23 ‘So they shall
surrender all your wives and children to the Chaldeans. You shall not escape
from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you
shall cause this city to be burned with fire.’ ”
:22 Your close friends have set upon you
(Jeremiah
38:22 NLT) All the women left in your palace will be
brought out and given to the officers of the Babylonian army. Then the women
will taunt you, saying, ‘What fine friends you have! They have betrayed and
misled you. When your feet sank in the mud, they left you to your fate!’
When Jeremiah sank in the mud, a friend came to his rescue.
In contrast, Zedekiah would sink in the mud of Babylon and those who
claimed to be his friends wouldn’t help him and in fact they are the ones who
would get him into this mess in the first place.
Lesson
Friends and pits
(keyword)
Enemies throw each other in the pit.
Joseph’s brothers threw him into the pit.
True friends help each other out of the miry clay
Do you know of a friend who is “stuck” in a pit?
Illustration
A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out...
~ A subjective person came along and said, "I feel
for you down there."
~ An objective person walked by and said, "It's
logical that someone would fall down there."
~ A Pharisee said, "Only bad people fall into
pits."
~ A mathematician calculated how deep the pit was.
~ A news reporter wanted the exclusive story on the pit.
~ An IRS agent asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
~ A self-pitying person said, "You haven't seen
anything until you've seen my pit."
~ A fire-and-brimstone preacher said, "You deserve
your pit."
~ A psychologist noted, "Your mother and father are
to blame for your being in that pit."
Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him
out of the pit.
(John 13:34–35
NKJV) —34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I
have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all
will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
(1 John 3:16 NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we
also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Video: Lord of the Rings – I can
carry you
Illustration
A number of years ago, in a mental institution just outside Boston, Mass.,
a young girl known as “Little Annie” was locked in the dungeon. This
institution was one of the more enlightened ones for the treatment of the
mentally disturbed. However, the doctors felt that a dungeon was the only place
for those who were “hopelessly” insane. In Little Annie’s case, they saw no
hope for her, so she was confined to a living death in that small cage which
received little light and even less hope.
About that time, an elderly nurse in the institution was nearing
retirement. She felt there was hope for all of God’s creatures, so she started
taking her lunch into the dungeon and eating outside Little Annie’s cage. She
felt perhaps she could communicate some love and hope to the little girl.
In many ways, Little Annie was like an animal. On occasions, she would
violently attack the person who came into her cage. At other times, she would
completely ignore them. When the elderly nurse started visiting her, Little
Annie gave no indication that she was even aware of her presence. One day, the
elderly nurse brought some brownies to the dungeon and left them outside the
cage. Little Annie gave no hint she knew they were there, but when the nurse
returned the next day, the brownies were gone. From that time on, the nurse
would bring brownies when she made her Thursday visit. Soon, the doctors in the
institution noticed a change was taking place. After a period of time, they
decided to move Little Annie upstairs. Finally, the day came when this “hopeless
case” was told she could return home. But Little Annie did not wish to leave.
The place had meant so much to her she felt she could make a contribution if
she stayed and worked with the other patients. The elderly nurse had seen and
brought out so much in her life that Little Annie felt she could see and help
develop something in others.
Many years later, Queen Victoria of England, while pinning England’s
highest award on a foreigner, asked Helen Keller, “How do you account for your
remarkable accomplishments in life? How do you explain the fact that even
though you were both blind and deaf, you were able to accomplish so much?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Helen Keller said that had it not been for Anne
Sullivan (Little Annie), the name of Helen Keller would have remained unknown.
It’s not too well known, but Helen Keller was a normal, healthy baby before
some mysterious disease left her almost helpless and hopeless. Anne Sullivan
saw Helen Keller as one of God’s very special people—treated her as she saw
her—loved her—disciplined her - - played, prayed, pushed and worked with her
until the flickering candle that was her life became a beacon that helped light
the pathways and lighten the burdens of people all over the world. Yes, Helen
Keller influenced millions after her own life was touched by “Little Annie!”
Do you know someone in a pit? In a dungeon?
:24 Then Zedekiah said to
Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die.
:25 But if the princes
hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare
to us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you;
do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’
:26 then you shall say to
them, ‘I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return
to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”
Zedekiah doesn’t want anyone knowing that he’s been talking to Jeremiah.
He comes up with an excuse that Jeremiah was to use if he was asked about
what Zedekiah and he had talked about.
:27 Then all the princes
came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words
that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the
conversation had not been heard.
:28 Now Jeremiah remained
in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there
when Jerusalem was taken.
:24 Let no one know of these words
Lesson
Moved by fear
When I read these accounts of Zedekiah, I get this feeling like something
inside of him wanted to do what was right. Why else would he keep sending
messengers to Jeremiah to find out what God had to say?
Yet it seems that Zedekiah was derailed in his life because of his fear of
people.
His fear of the leaders made him give in and allow Jeremiah to be thrown
into a pit.
His fear of the people in captivity kept him from surrendering to
Nebuchadnezzar and sparing the city.
He knew the right thing, but was too afraid to do it.
Fear can cause us to do strange things.
Illustration
Former Hearse
Driver
An American is in London for the first time. He’s in a
taxi on his way to an appointment for which he is afraid he may be late, given
the slow speed at which the driver is proceeding. In order to ask the driver
about their progress, he leans forward and taps the older gentleman on the
shoulder. The driver simultaneously emits a blood curdling scream and jumps
straight up in the air, yanking the wheel to one side. The cab veers sharply,
jumps the curb, demolishing a beautiful old cast iron lamppost and comes to a
stop mere inches from a shop window. The startled but uninjured passenger asks,
“Are you all right? I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just wanted to ask a
question.” “Not your fault, guv’nor,” said the driver in a Cockney lilt, “I’m
bright new to this taxi drivin’ I yam, an’ I’m not used to ‘avin’ comp’ny owin’
to my previous trade.” “I see,” said the passenger. “And what did you do
previously?” The driver said, “Why for the past 25 years I was the best hearse
driver in London, sir.”
A counterpart to fearing people is the desire to “please people”. It’s
really the same thing. We seek to
“please” people because we’re “afraid” of what will happen if we don’t. A typical person we try and please is our
boss …
Illustration
My Boss' Jokes
The boss returned from lunch in a good mood and called the
whole staff in to listen to a couple of jokes he had picked up. Everybody but
one girl laughed uproariously. “What’s the matter?” grumbled the boss. “Haven’t
you got a sense of humor??” “I don’t have to laugh,” she said. “I’m
leaving Friday...”
When you’re always doing things to please other people you’re setting
yourself up for trouble.
What if the people you are trying to please want you to do
the wrong thing?
Sometimes we get so caught up in pleasing everyone else,
that the people we really ought to be helping (like our family) get neglected.
How can we ever hope to get away from being afraid of people?
One approach is to remember who is really worth fearing. Jesus said:
(Matthew 10:28 NKJV) And do not fear those who kill the
body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell.
God is the one who has the power to put someone in
hell. If we understand what it is to
fear Him, then we can put our fear of people into perspective. God is the one to be pleasing, not people.
Another way of approaching this is to simply keep our eyes on Jesus.
We can only do it if we are relying on Jesus to help us.
By our own selves it is just too hard.
(Hebrews
12:1–3 NKJV) —1 Therefore we also, since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and
the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the
race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against
Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
Steven gave a bold witness for Jesus. He was facing a wild
mob. How did he do it?
(Acts
7:55–60 NKJV) —55 But he, being full of the Holy
Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the
right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens
opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 Then they
cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one
accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And
the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying,
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out
with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had
said this, he fell asleep.
He had his eyes on Jesus.
Homework
Read Jer. 26-38 in ESV (each week a different version).
Memorize 23:28
(Jeremiah
23:28 NKJV) “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a
dream; And he who
has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the
wheat?” says the Lord.
Today’s ending quiz
What were the two key words from our lesson? (…)
God’s Word Endures
Friends and pits
What could you apply to your life from today’s lesson?
Six classes left
October 21 – Jer. 36-38
October 28 – Jer. 39-41
November 4 – Jer. 42-44
November 11 – Jer. 45-48
November 18 – Jer. 49-50
November 25 - Thanksgiving
December 2 – Jer. 51-52
December 9 – Class Projects