Jeremiah 25:1-14. In recent readings in Jeremiah we have seen many warnings to the people of Judah and their leaders about coming trouble. We have seen that the trouble was deserved because they had been disrespectful and disobedient toward God. Their religious leaders had been encouraging them to honor false gods and the prophets, who were supposed to deliver messages from God, were making up their own messages for the people. These messages were usually the opposite of what God was actually telling them through his faithful representative, Jeremiah.
In yesterday’s reading Jeremiah had a “dream” or vision, and this one was from God. In that vision the people of Judah were compared to two baskets of figs, one good and the other spoiled. This vision came after some of the people of Judah had been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. The baskets of figs in the vision represented the people of Judah. Most of us think pretty highly of ourselves and when something like that happens we like to think that the other guy got what he deserved. Most of us would see being taken captive to another country as some sort of punishment. That seems to be the attitude behind the vision that Jeremiah had. But God turned the feelings of the people who had remained in the land inside out. In the vision the good figs represented the people in captivity and the bad figs represented the people left in the land. God promised the people taken captive that they would have a pretty good life where they were and that they would eventually return. The people in the land were warned about the path they were on (one that involved turning to Egypt for help instead of trusting God). The people who remained in the land were told that eventually they would be seen by the world as a cursed people.
The vision in chapter 24 is some time after Jeconiah (also called Jehoiachin and Coniah) was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar. That happened in 597 BC. The events in today’s reading take place in the “fourth year of Jehoiakim”. Jehoiakim was Jehoiachin’s father and he reigned from 609 BC to 598 BC (Remember he was the guy who got Nebuchadnezzar all stirred up by not paying tribute (a sort of tax) then died and left his son to face Nebuchadnezzar). His 4th year would have been 605 BC the same year Nebuchadnezzer thrashed the Egyptians at Carchemish. Nebuchadnezzer also took captives from the cities of Palestine back to Babylon (see Daniel 1). So this chapter is sort of a flash back.
In verse 2 notice that Jeremiah speaks to all the people of Judah and Jerusalem. We need to keep in mind that God makes sure that we know what he wants. So what does Jeremiah have to say to they? In verse 3 he reminds the people that he has been bringing the word of God to them for the last 23 years, but they have not been listening. That phrase occurs again in verses 4, 7 and we learn in verse 4 that it was not just Jeremiah telling them what God though, there were other prophets too. In verse 7 the LORD (all capitals in many English translations mean that this is the one true God’s personal name Yahweh) makes it clear that this message came from him; it was Yahweh that they were not listening to. Jeremiah also emphasizes that the message has been repeated over and over again in verses 3 and 4. In verse 4 Jeremiah tells the people that they have not “inclined” their ear. The word translated “inclined” means to “stretch out, hold out, turn toward”. The idea is like turning your head to hear better or putting you had behind your ear to direct the sound in to it better. The problem isn’t that these people couldn’t hear but that they were trying not to hear; they weren’t listening, for 23 years. We see this idea in verse 7 too.
So what was the “message” from God? In verse 5 Jeremiah tells them (and us) that he continually told them to stop doing “evil”. That’s pretty general, but he gets more specific. In verse 6 we find out that the people were chasing after other gods. We also learn that they had made these gods with their own hands. When we read through Isaiah he made a big deal of how stupid it is to carve a piece of wood and then set it up and serve it as a god while you are warming yourself by a fire made from the other parts of the same tree or bush or whatever. Many of the false gods that the people worshipped were the “gods” of the people who had inhabited the land before the Israelites took it over. God foresaw this and that is why he made such a big deal of having the Israelites getting rid of the former inhabitants when they took over. Unfortunately they never did a good job of that and now 800 years later they were seeing the consequences. As we saw a couple of days ago the “gods” are often linked to the land; they are seen as a part of it in a way. The Israelites probably though that they needed to make these local gods happy when things were not going the way they wanted; that is what their non-Jewish neighbors would have told them. But just like the message from the figs yesterday, what God is doing doesn’t always match what we think. Just last night I saw a trailer for a remake of “Left Behind”. In the trailer one of the characters is mad about the rapture and the chaos that follows it. She says, “The God my grandmother always talked about would never do something like this.” We need to be careful about putting God in a cage that we design, he knows what he is doing, and based on what I see in the Bible it will have the most benefit for the most people (see 2 Peter 3:3-15, especially vv. 9-10, 15).
IN verse 7 we see that the actions of the people “provoke” God to “anger” and that the result will be “harm” to them. The phrase “provoke me to anger” is one word in the Hebrew language “kawas”. It can also mean “grieved” or “indignant”. Indignant is an interesting word that means “not worthy”. When I put that together with “grieved” (think sad) and the actions of the Jewish people I wonder if it they who are not worth or the fact that they don’t seem to treat God like he has worth. It’s like the people are throwing God away with all he has to offer them. Since God literally holds the universe together (Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:17) imagine what a mess we would be in without him. No wonder he is sad and mad and grieved. The word “harm” at the end of verse 7 is the same word used to describe the bad figs in chapter 24. Basically the idea here is that throwing God away leads to a pretty rotten life. Although God is clearly in control of the whole universe (Bible scholars like to use the word “sovereign” like a king), that does not mean that his control is not influenced by our actions. Verses 5-7 make it very clear that our actions affect what God does.
In verses 8-11 we are told that the harm that is coming their way is going to be at the hand of Nebuchadnezzer. God is going to use Babylon to show them what happens when you turn away from Him. These verses don’t paint a very pretty picture including ideas like “utter destruction” and no “joy or gladness”. I guess the girl in that movie trailer was wrong; we often are.
In verse 11 we get a little glimpse of hope. In that verse we are told that Babylon will have control for 70 years. In 2 Chronicles 36:21 that author mentions this verse and tells us that it is because of the land and “it’s Sabbaths”. In the Law of Moses there was a rule that every seventh year the people were not supposed to plant any crops, they were to let the land rest (the word Sabbath means “seventh” but in the context of the Old Testament it contains the idea of rest). For 490 years the Jewish people had blown off the rule and now God was going to let the land have it’s rest while they were in captivity in Babylon. The hope comes in the fact that there would be an end to the captivity (see also Jeremiah 24:6).
In verses 12-14 we see that at the end of the 70 years that the Babylonian empire would be destroyed. According to verse 13 this destruction was foretold by God. Some might think it is not consistent for God to use someone’s actions and to later punish them . What we see here is God giving us freedom but also making the most out of the situation that we have created. The Babylonians were determined to dominate their world. God used their actions to teach the Israelites a lesson; turning away from God has consequences. But that goes for the Babylonians too. Their lack of respect for God would have consequences for them too.
I like it that God repeated himself over and over again, for 23 years. God really wants us to get the message and honor him with our lives. He even allows events that show us, in a little way, what happens when he isn’t a part of our lives. God is very patient but there are consequences. God thank you for waiting. Thank you for letting me exist. Thank you for waiting until I heard about you. Thank you for waiting until I started to listen. Help me keep my ear stretched out to hear you. Help me listen. Help me obey. Thank you for holding our universe together. Let me honor you today and every day for all eternity.