Jeremiah 8:14-9:6

Jeremiah 8:14-9:6.  In yesterday’s post I said that verse 13 is like a bridge or transition, it fits with what we read yesterday and with what we are reading today.  Yesterday we read about the invasion of Judah.  God was going to allow the invasion as a way to get the attention of the people of Judah.  He wanted them to be aware that there are consequences when we ignore the existence of God and don’t care about what God cares about.  In a way verse 13 sums up that idea.

When I first looked back at that verse this morning I though that the vine and tree and plant were being compared to the deceitful leaders (and maybe even all the people who where ignoring God), but I think there is more there than that.  The verse starts out with “them” being ”consumed” (different translations may use a different English word).  The idea is that the “them” is being gotten rid of.  In this case we need to see that the “them” is the false leaders from verses 8-12.  In a garden when plants stop producing or wither up we pull them out and get rid of them.  So I thought that the “plants” were the leaders.  The rest of the verse then would be kind of a description of God getting rid “them”.  But I think there is more here than that.  Most of mankind’s existence for most of history has centered around agriculture, sure there have been lots of people who were “hunter-gatherers” but even thy had to gather food from plant whether they planted them or not.  So when the plants fail, whether in fields or in the “wild”, a famine happens and people die.  In verse 13 grapes and figs and healthy plants may be talking about the usefulness of different people in our society but it could also be talking about grapes and figs and healthy plants; it’s probably talking about both.  I think that because of the way the verse ends, God tells them that “what he has given them will pass away.”  It is important to see that good things in life, whether helpful people (at least the priests and prophets were supposed to be helpful) or necessary plants, are given by God.  Disrespecting God brings loss into our lives, real important loss.  Plants nourish us physically and faithful representatives of God nourish us spiritually by giving us the words of God (1 Timothy4:6-8), the loss of either brings death.  We need to remember God wants us to live and has given us both for that purpose.

With that in mind verses 14-17 are shocking, if God wants us to live then why all this “bad” stuff?   In verse 14 Yahweh our God doomed the people of Judah and given them poisoned water.  In verses 15-16 we have a description of the invasion by Babylon, the people wanted peace but didn’t get it.  Instead the invasion came from the north (Dan was basically the northernmost city of the original nation of Israel), an army with many horses, the land shook and was either burned up or eaten up (devoured) or both since invading armies would take what was useful or valuable to them and burn the rest with fire.  Then in verse 17 we see the action compared to God sending poisonous snakes among them that bite them.  Just like the action ending in verse 12 yesterday was sealed with God’s signature verse 17 is “signed” the same way, this is God speaking.

If God is for us then what is this all about?  Verse 14 gives us the answer, the trouble was brought on by their own actions, by their rebellion and disobedience to God; Sin.  Sin is an archery term that means to miss the bulls eye.  The kind of actions God want is our lives is the bulls eye and when we don’t do what God wants we have missed that mark; we have “sinned”.  The trouble we have in life is brought on by us.  Sometimes the trouble is from our own actions and sometimes we feel the effects of the actions of others.  A bomb goes off in a crowded mall or a student rages with guns and people who had nothing to do with the bomber of student get hurt or killed, they are suffering because of the actions of others.  Other times we disobey our parents or God or others who have given us instruction and we get hurt or die, we are suffering for our own actions.  And remember there are two types of life here, physical and spiritual.  The physical one (the union of our body and spirit or soul) has been temporary since Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8-9,17; 3:1-19); physical death is an appointment we all have (Hebrews 9:27).  It wasn’t that way from the beginning it was a consequence of their disobedience and of our’s.  On the other hand spiritual death has been a reality in our existence since then too.  When God entered the garden that day and asked where they were it was not because he didn’t know, it was to show them that he was now a stranger to them.  Death means separation and there was a break between them and God, caused by their disobedience.  When we disobey God we show that our relationship with him is broken too.  This spiritual separation or death cannot be fixed by us, we cannot undo our disobedience, the separation is, or should be permanent; eternal.

There was another tree in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life.  Evidently eating from that tree heals the physical brokenness we have; it is the real “Fountain of Youth” if you know that legend.  When Adam and Eve disobey God put them out of the Garden and locked the door.  The reason was to keep them from eating from the Tree of Life.  It’s not because God didn’t want them to have eternal physical life back, because we know that in the end that mankind (at least the ones with God) will be allowed to eat from this tree and will be healed physically (see Revelation 2:7; 22:1-19).  If Adam and Eve had eaten from that tree though they would have become immortal and I suppose all of their offspring would have too, including Jesus.  In that case Jesus, the Infinite God-Man would not have been able to die on the cross and pay the infinite price we all owed for our sin.

So God’s actions are all about the best way to see the most people have the best eternity possible.  Those actions included allowing a time for mankind to learn and see how bad our situation was and is (see the “Old Testament Connection” for more on this).  Those actions included dealing with the penalty of eternal separation from him (spiritual death).   And those actions include a time to allow mankind to “get it” and respond to God’s loving offer of restoration through Jesus.  Remember all the talk earlier in Jeremiah about returning to God.

The fact that God loves us and is not happy with our situation is seen in the feelings of Jeremiah in verses 18-22.  Verse 18 could be God talking, an extension of verse 17.  But in the middle of verse 19 we see God being talked about in the “third person” (It isn’t God talking directly about himself).  But in the last line of verse 19 God is talking about himself.  This mixture of verses being both from Jeremiah’s point of view and from God’s really points out the fact that true prophets speak for and represent God.  We might say that Jeremiah had the heart of God and his feelings reflect the feeling of God.  Here we see Jeremiah (and God) extremely sad about the situation with Judah (and us).  In verse 19 we see Jeremiah asking if God isn’t a part of the lives of the people of Judah.  Remember that in verse 13 that God was described as a provider.  So the real question is why aren’t the people of Judah having a “good life”.  The answer is that the people had turned away from God.  Verse 20 returns to the idea of the plants from verse 13 and we see that the people think that their chance for care is gone and they have lost.  Verse 21 seems to tell us that the people could still turn back to God but they won’t, God cares and is willing but the people aren’t.

Balm is another word for ointment, a gooey sort of medicine.  Gilead was a region of Israel known for it’s balm.  In verse 22 we see another example of Jeremiah’s poetic form when he uses parallel ideas.  The idea of medicine and a doctor are parallel ideas used to make Jeremiah’s and God’s point.  The answer to the question is of course there is medicine in Gilead.  Remember that the sickness being talked about here is spiritual sickness, our messed up relationship with God.  The answer to the question at the end of verse 22 is that the people are not healed because they haven’t returned to God, they haven’t turned back, Jeremiah has repeatedly pointed this out so far.

In chapter nine Jeremiah (and God) again cries for the people, he is sad aver the situation.  In verses 3-6 we see the problem the people are not honoring God with their lives, they love evil and lies, they treat each other God poorly.  In verse 3 God tells us that the people don’t really know him in verse 6 we see that they refuse to know God.

Our relationship with God is sad, the Creator God of the universe wants a relationship with us, but we are turning him away.  He is offering a balm, Jesus, but we are rejecting it.  That is very sad.  The happy side of this story is that God is there offering to fix our relationship.  God loves us and wants us in spite of our rebellion.  That is good news very good news, it is the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ.

God thank yo for loving me.  Thank you for waiting for me to respond to you.  Thank you for giving mankind the information and the time.  I’m sorry for the pain I have caused you, the sadness.  Help me cause you less sadness each day.  Let me be sad, too, about the people around me who are lost.  Let me be a balm to those around me, let me be a doctor for the spiritually dying.  Let me bring Jesus to the lives of many.  

1 Comment

  1. CommentsJJgirl <3   |  Tuesday, 08 October 2013 at 8:29 AM

    Thank you Mr. Myron for a wonderful lesson. I truly enjoyed reading and understanding it. Hope you have a wonderful day. \(^.^)/

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.
Home / Jeremiah 8:14-9:6