Jeremiah 16:1-13. In yesterday’s reading we saw Jeremiah starting to feel sorry for himself. Then he started to blame God for being unfair. That was the wrong way to go with his feelings. God encouraged him to sty on the path he had been given and keep telling the people to return to God. If he would honor God with his life then God would protect him.
In today’s reading we see more of the difficult life Jeremiah was leading. In yesterday’s reading Jeremiah pointed out that he didn’t run around with the crowd (Jeremiah 15:17). In today’s reading we see God asking him to use his life as a living example to the people of Judah. “Don’t get married or have a family here”, God tells Jeremiah. Being married is awesome, it takes work too, but it’s awesome. Cookie is my best friend; she’s always there. Sometimes I call here just to hear here say, “Hello.” It’s good to know that I have a partner in this life and I am not going through it alone. Kids are good too. Over the years my kids have come to work with me to learn and to help. I had a long day at work yesterday and my youngest came with me to a late job. On the way home we were talking about fixing up a bathroom in our house. I mentioned getting rid of the shower in the bathroom and putting in a tub with a shower instead. He told me I wasn’t getting any younger and probably would want a shower, so I wouldn’t have to step over the tub, someday. I’m not rich and have to work to keep the bills paid. I do physical work and if I can’t step over the edge of a tub then I’d be in real trouble. I wouldn’t be able to pay the rent and wouldn’t have to worry about the tub. He told me that that is what I have kids for; to help out when I get old. My son-in-law said something similar to me once. I really appreciated that sentiment. I told him so but also told him if I wasn’t working that I would live someplace less expensive so it still wouldn’t be an issue. In Jeremiah’s day it was like that, as a person got older their children would take over the family business and mom and dad would do less of the physical work and become more of advisors. Telling Jeremiah not to get married and have a family would have been a big “downer” for Jeremiah.
God does put a positive spin on the situation though, if Jeremiah had children he would have to watch them suffer and die. War has a terrible price. In those days the people had fortified towns. When an invasion happened the people would crowd into the town. The invaders would attack the towns to be sure, but often they would just wait out the people inside, let them starve or dehydrate to death. As people died from attacks and from starvation there would of course be no place to bury the dead and the bodies would start to rot. Disease would spread in those towns and more would die. Verses 3-4 don’t paint a very pretty picture of what is coming but at least Jeremiah won’t have kids and a wife to suffer when it does.
Not only is Jeremiah going to face this time without a partner, God tells him to do something that is going to make him very unpopular with just about everyone, when the trouble starts Jeremiah is not to mourn with the people. Evidently the trouble will get so bad that the people won’t have time to mourn either, people will just die and be left out with no funeral, no burial, nothing. When some people do mourn though Jeremiah has been told not to join them. In verse 5 we are told why Jeremiah is not to mourn; he is representing God to the people and God wants them to understand that this is what they deserve. In verse 5 we see that God “removes” his Peace, lovingkindness, and compassion. Those are three very interesting ideas. In our language peace means the absence of conflict; no fighting. The Hebrew word here is “shalom”. The word is often used as a greeting in modern Hebrew but it really is more of a “blessing”; wish or prayer for a great life. The idea behind “shalom” is one of a full or very good and complete life. In verse 5 we see that true “shalom” is from God. Since the people were rejecting God (by accepting false gods) they were going to lose the “shalom” that comes with him. The second word is “hesed” or “chesed”. The English translation (lovingkindness) doesn’t even really come close to telling us all this word means. The word is about God’s faithfulness to the promises he had made to the people of Israel. It’s about his dedication and commitment to taking care of them and fulfilling his promises to them. The fact that he is “withdrawing” (or actually holding back) his “hesed” doesn’t mean that God is breaking his word. With respect to the Jewish people there were both forever, unconditional promises and more immediate promises with conditions. God will give the land to them, God will build a kingdom for them, God will have the descendant of David (Jesus) rule over them forever (implying a resurrection and immortality) but that didn’t mean that, in the mean time, they might not lose parts of the goodness of the promises for a while; even for many generations (see Romans 11 especially v. 24 which is about the people of Israel being put back into God’s forever family). The last word is usually translated “mercy” and I think that idea is better here because mercy is holding back what someone deserves, now God is not holding back.
God is the one who fills life up and makes it full, God is the one who has a plan for a great forever, and God is the one who holds back and does not give us what we deserve (death or separation from him is what our disobedience and disrespect really deserves). So for God to “hold back” some of those things for a time so that the people could see where their actions (the idolatry) were leading them is not breaking his promises but a way of making sure that some people will enjoy them. Lat year I had cable TV and there was a show about “cheapskates”; people who don’t like to spend a lot. One story was about a doctor who had a lot of money that he had spread around in a lot of bank accounts. His family, including his wife, only knew about one bank account though. When they would ask for something he would show them the account and tell them they did not have enough money; he was hiding the truth from them and as a result they were not enjoying the benefits of the wealth the family had. God wants us to understand the wealth we have by being a part of his family and showing us what it means to be on the outside is one way of doing that. God isn’t hiding his riches from us but he does show us what life is like without him.
The words that Jeremiah was communicating must have been before the invasion because there were still parties and celebrations going on; Jeremiah was told not to go though. When asked why he wouldn’t go to parties he was supposed to tell them that a time was coming when there would be not more parties, no more celebrations, even weddings would not have all of the festivities (vv. 8-9).
Verse 10 is kind of unbelievable. After Jeremiah starts living out this miserable life and telling the people that this is what is coming in their lives, the people are going to ask him why God is going to back off from them. It’s like they are saying to him, “What? What? What did we do?” Really? Often God uses the picture of cheating in a marriage to describe what it is like when we dedicate our lives to other gods or even other things (idolatry). This response is like a husband asking “What?” as his wife walks out on him after he has cheated. These people had accepted all the good stuff that God’s peace, lovingkindness and mercy had brought into their lives and then walked into their temples and shrines and thanked all the little statues their own hands had made; they should have known why the trouble was coming.
Verses 11-13 show that God was not removing all of his mercy because in these verses he actually takes the time to explain what the problem was. Their ancestors (fathers) had been cheaters and they were even worse. In verse 12 we also see that this is a problem of living for self. Satan told Eve that if she disobeyed God that she would become like God. Here in verse 12 we see that the root of the people’s actions was that they were putting themselves in God’s place; they followed their own desires and did not listen to God. In verse 13 God also warns them of the results of their disobedience and rebellion; God is going to exile them and let them see just what you get when you replace him with fake gods. In the end of verse 13 God is not forcing them to follow false gods he is describing what they will do when they are exiled. It’s hard to understand how they could keep going back after all of the discipline God was going to send their way; but then again we do the same way, ignoring the warnings and going after the “stubbornness of our own evil hearts” too.
It impresses me how we keep going in spite of the warning signs. There is a commercial on TV right now about a medicine for a sexually transmitted disease. We are warned constantly about these in the world yet we jump from partner to partner thinking we will never get the disease. Instead we should recognize the wisdom of God in his creation and stick to his plan; get married and have one partner for life. We see how alcohol diminishes or capacity (slows down our ability to act and react) but we drink and drive. Instead we should recognize the wisdom of God when he tells us that wine laughs at us and strong drinks beat us up. We think that we will all hit the lottery and instead waste the money God has allowed us to earn to live on on a useless scrap of paper or some other gamble. Instead we should recognize the wisdom of God when he tells us that there is no easy way to live since Adam first sinned and that we will live by the “sweat of our brow”. God is merciful and faithful and has given us not only the words to live by but makes himself available to help in the form of the Holy Spirit. We need to recognize him though and honor him and accept his forgiveness offered in Jesus. Then listen to him and not our own stubborn evil heart. Then we will have the “shalom” God always intended for us, both now in times of trouble and forever in eternity.
God thank you for never fully removing your mercy. Thank you for all the chances you gave me to recognize you and accept Jesus. Thank you for all the chances you have given me as I have failed, even as a believer in Jesus. Help me be faithful to honor you regardless of what I go through in life. Thank you for my family. Thank you for my wife. Thank you for everything.