Jeremiah 33:1-13.  We are in the middle of a section in Jeremiah called by some, “the Book of Consolation”.  Jeremiah is a very serious book containing lots of warnings about coming disaster.  When I was young the United States was involved in a “cold war” with certain other countries, mainly the Soviet Union, a union of socialist countries controlled by Russia.  There was often tension between the two countries and many feared it would break out into fighting at any moment, or worse.  Some feared that the two countries would “push the button” at any moment and set into motion the nuclear destruction of the Northern Hemisphere.  As a school child growing up at that time we would do “air raid drills” where we would duck under our desks to prepare for an atomic blast.  Jeremiah was sort of the “air raid siren” of Jerusalem, and he was constantly sounding off.  In chapters 31-33, the “Book of Consolation”, he still goes off but he also tells everybody that they will survive and get to go home, eventually.  The same God who (accurately) predicted the disaster should be trusted about his predictions of restoration.

In today’s reading Jeremiah continues to offer the people hope.  In verse 1 we are told that the “word of the LORD (Yahweh) came to Jeremiah a second time” while he was prisoner in the palace courtyard.  The first time was the whole story about redeeming the land in chapter 32, including his prayer and God’s answer.  In verse 2 God identifies himself in a very specific way.  In ancient times names were very important (see “What’s in a Name?”).  In the Bible there are many “names” for God, they are usually descriptive and help us understand who God is and what he is about.  The real God has a personal name, Yahweh.  He is also called “Lord”.  That translates a Hebrew word “adonai” that means lord or master or boss.  The word is also used to describe human bosses or masters.  And then there is the word “God”, that translates a Hebrew word “Elohim”.  That word has a lot of meanings (Hebrew can be fuzzy that way) including rulers, judges, gods, angles, goddesses, divine beings, and God.  If you look at those meanings you will notice that they are all plural except for the last one.  Elohim is the plural form of “Elohe” which has all of those meaning except in the singular form.  When it is applied to Yahweh it is translated God it means divine being, but in the singular, that is very interesting.  I think the answer to why you would use a plural for a singular God is because in that one God there exists 3 persons, it’s kind of a mystery to us but wouldn’t you expect God to be a little mysterious (see “Three or One?”).  Sometimes God is described with compound names like Jehovah-Jireh (Yahweh will provide) or El-shaddai (almighty God, el is a shortened form of “elohim”).

In verse 2 we just have the personal name of God, Yahweh, with descriptions of what he did. In old translations Yahweh was often translated as Jehovah and in newer translations it is usually replace with the word LORD in all capitals.  The ancient Jewish people were kind of superstitious sometimes and didn’t want to say God’s personal name so they would say lord instead.  Because translators didn’t know how a Jewish person would pronounce the name we have “Jehovah” in some translations and “Yahweh” (probably the correct way) in others, while some just copied the Jewish people and substitute LORD).  We see that Yahweh “made” and “formed” the earth.  It is interesting because some people think that God made the ‘stuff” of the universe and then left it to evolve based on the rules he had laid down.  These two words have a more “hands on” meaning though.  “Made” translates a word that can mean “make, dress, prepare, maintain, or wrought”.  Sounds pretty hands on, that last word is often used to describe the kind of work a “blacksmith” does, you know heating a piece of metal up in a fire and beating it with a hammer to form something.   The other word “formed” is even more hands on, it has the idea of making something by squeezing it into shape; like a potter squeezing and shaping a piece of clay.  So we see God is powerful enough to make the universe and that he is closely involved.

In verse 3 Jeremiah is told to talk to God and God will show him “great and mighty things”.  The ideas here are things that are difficult or impossible to understand, things.  The second word has the idea of something in a fort; think something that you can’t get to on your own or without help.  The end of verse 3 confirms that the things God wanted to show to Jeremiah were things that he didn’t really understand.

The rest of the chapter is probably a description of the difficult things God wants to show Jeremiah.  In verses 4-5 God describes the situation in Jerusalem.  Nebuchadnezzar has been outside the city wall tearing down houses and anything else he can find and hauling all the junk up to Jerusalem and piling it up against the city wall to make a ramp to get over the wall.  In the mean time the people inside of Jerusalem have been tearing down stuff too.  They have been piling it up on top of the wall to make the wall higher and keep Nebuchadnezzar and his army out.  They have also been using the piles of rubble to bury the bodies of people who have been dying inside the city.  Because the city was surrounded they would not have had much food, many were starving to death.  All of the cemeteries were outside of the city so the dead bodies would just be lying around.  As they started to rot people would get sick from them, then they would die too.  In verse 5 Yahweh Elohim (LORD God, in other wise the personal God of Israel) was behind the death.  That would be hard to understand but God tells Jeremiah why; the people have been wicked (that word means evil, bad, or disagreeable).

In verses 6-8 God tells Jeremiah that he will also make the city “healthy” again.  He will give them the cure and make sure it works.  Although he uses words like rebuild he is really talking about the Jewish people, but by referring to the city of Jerusalem and the area of Judah we see that he is not just talking about a limited group of people.  In verse 8 we learn that God will clean them from all the “twisted” things they have done (that is the meaning of the word “iniquity”).  He also describes their actions as ‘missing the target” (that is the meaning of the word “sin”).  Finally we see that these actions were “rebellion” (transgression in some translations) against God.

In verse 9 we see that when God is done the nation and people of Israel will be a source of joy to the whole world.  We also see that the whole world will honor God because of that the good they have seen God do for the Israelites and the peace that he has brought into their lives, again more amazing things for Jeremiah to try to understand.

In verses 10-11 God confirms to Jeremiah that the city that he has turned into a wasteland will again be filled with happy people who will be having families and going to the Temple to honor God.  In verse 12-13 God confirms that is will not just be Jerusalem that will be restored by the whole Southern Kingdom of Judah (the description of the land that he gives includes many parts of Judah).  The cities that would be filled with wandering animals would once again be the home of permanent shepherds (who counted their flocks each night and put them in pens).

This section has focused mainly on Judah, the Southern Kingdom.  It was that Kingdom that Jeremiah had been bringing messages to for more than 30 years.  That kingdom was now in ruin.  The ruin was because of the disobedience and rebellion against God (sin).  But there was hope.  The maker of the universe was going to use his creative power to restore the kingdom.  He was going to personally make sure this happened (notice how many times the name Yahweh is used).  It would have been an encouragement to Jeremiah to hear these words.  It may have encouraged some of the exiles and even the residents of Jerusalem during the siege.  The fulfillment of the promises would be and encouragement to all the nations of the world one day.

It is good to know that God personally make the universe, it is good to know that he is also personally involved in our lives.  It is good to see that he keeps his promises and it is good to see that he wants good in our lives (see verse 11 where Yahweh is described as “good” and that he keeps his promises and does good (lovingkindness) forever).  It is cool that the “bride and bridegroom” seem to recognize that their happy day is a result of God’s goodness and lovingkindness.  Of course it can be shocking to see God take responsibility for the destruction that the people of Judah were experiencing.  The word “wicked” in verse 5 can also mean “malignant”, think cancer.  Most cancers are treat by cutting them out or otherwise killing them.  Often those “cures” are very harsh and painful.  For the luck ones though the cancer is completely removed and there are restored to health.  God is willing to use his power to remove the cancer from our lives; the rebellion that leads to eternal separation from God can be permanently healed by God.  There is a catch though, we need to want it.  Jeremiah needed hope in his messed up world and he could have it, if he called to God.  We can have hope to, not about our here and now but about our eternity.  We don’t need to stay exiles from God we can come back, if we will call to him he will answer us and restore us to his forever kingdom.  Of course we have to really want a relationship with God, he will know if we are faking it.  Just like the restored citizens in Judah who went to the Temple to honor God, or like the nations who saw the restored Israelites and praised and honored Yahweh, if we really have turned back to God it will show in our actions; we will honor God in the way we live and the things we say.

God thank you for using your power to make this universe.  Thank you for making it clear that I have offended you and that there is a price to pay for that.  Thank you for using your power to pay that price.  Thank you for staying close and showing me the way back to you.  Thank you for hope.  Hellp me honor you with my new restored life.

Jeremiah 32:26-44.  Two days ago we started reading about an event in the life of Jeremiah.  Jerusalem was under siege and was about to fall to the Babylonians, Jeremiah was under arrest in the “courtyard of the king” for consistently predicting the downfall of Jerusalem.  The siege was interrupted by an attack by the Egyptian army.  It would not be long before Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians and returned to Jerusalem.  In the mean time, Jeremiah was visited by a relative who needed help paying off a debt so some land could stay in the family.  Jeremiah was to “redeem” the land and seal the deed in a jar “for a long time”.  The point was that the Babylonians would win, Jerusalem would fall, the Temple would be destroyed, and most of the people would be taken as exiles.  Jeremiah’s act was to symbolize the fact that God would eventually bring the people back and the city and Temple would be rebuilt (after 70 years according to Jeremiah earlier prediction).  In yesterday’s reading we saw Jeremiah pray after he finished “redeeming” the land and sealing the Jar.  In the prayere he rrecognized the greatness of God, the mercy of God, the rebellion and unfaithfulness of the people of Israel, the faithfulness of God to his promises and predictions, and he ended by commenting on the symbolic task God had him do.  He seems to have been kind of shocked at “redeeming” the land since he knew it would soon be under foreign control.  I’m sure he was confident that God would bring the people back but maybe it was hard because he was old and knew he probably would never get to repossess the land he had bought.

In today’s reading God answers Jeremiah.  In verse 27 God identifies himself by his personal name, Yahweh (translated “LORD” in most English Bibles) and tells Jeremiah that he is God of “all flesh” (everyone).  He then asks Jeremiah, “Is anything too hard for me?”  We are supposed to understand that the answer is, “NO!”  This might help us understand why Jeremiah brought up the symbolic act he had done; it looks like he might have been a little unsure that it would happen.  As I said yesterday, Jeremiah was a human being with feelings, emotions, even fear (see 1 Kings 19:1-18), so it would be understandable if he was just a little unsure.

Verse 28 starts out, “Therefore thus says the LORD”.  That phrase occurs again in verses 36 and 42.  It kind of sets off each of those groups of verses as a little section.  In this first section (verses 28-35) Yahweh (LORD, God) confirms again that he is going to destroy Jerusalem.  In some of theses verses God calls the Babylonians Chaldeans.  Remember that Chaldeans were a people group and Babylonian refers to the city.  Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Babylonian Empire, was a Chaldean.  We are told in verse 29 that the invaders will destroy the city by fire, a common practice in those days.  What is more important to notice in these verses is the reason God is going to let the city be destroyed.  In verse 29 we learn that the people of Jerusalem had set up shrines or altars on the roof of their houses to burn incense to the main false god of the area, Baal (Maybe you have to put it in your roof because Baal can’t see inside very well, or more of the smell can get to him).  We also learn that they made other offerings to other false gods in their homes.  In verse 29 we see that God was upset by that activity.  In verse 30 we see that the actions of the Israelites was continually evil, theses weren’t little slip ups, in fact they started their defection from Yahweh while they were still young.  We also see in verse 30 that it was both parts of the nation; the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

In verse 31 we see that theses bad habit went all the way back to the beginning of Jerusalem as an Israelite city.  We also learn in verse 32 that it was all the people; kings, leaders, priests, prophets, the men of Judah (women too) and all the people of Jerusalem.  That is why the city was to be destroyed (v. 31).  In verse 33 we see that the people had turned their back on God in spite of the fact that he was constantly teaching them.  In verse 34 we see that they even put images of the false gods in the Temple where only Yahweh, the true God, was to be honored.

Verse 35 concludes with perhaps the worst evil of all.  In the Valley of Ben-Hinnom altars (fancy tables to make sacrifices to gods on) were set up for more worship of Baal and another local “god” Molech.  In this valley the way they respected these “gods” was by burning their children to death as an offering to these false gods.  In verse 35 even God says he didn’t command such things and he hadn’t even imagined them (“it never entered Yahweh’s mind”, that doesn’t mean that he didn’t know they were going to do it God knows everything and always has, this is his way of helping Jeremiah and all of us understand how disgusting all of that was to him).  These practices evidently were happening way back at the beginning of Jeremiah’s time as a prophet.  The first king he delivered messages to was Josiah, who tried to reform the people and get them to honor Yahweh.  Josiah destroyed the altars God is talking abut here and did other things to make the valley forever “unclean”.  In order for people to make offerings to Yahweh and participate in other God honoring celebrations and ceremonies they had to be “clean”.  “Clean” was a technical term that dealt more with attitudes and symbolic notice of our disobedience and rebellion toward God, as well as a recognition of God purity, than it dealt with actual physical dirt (though that was a part of the symbolism too).   One of the things Josiah did was to make the valley a grave yard.  It was also the city sewer and trash dump.  All making it a nasty place and technically “unclean”.  There were perpetuual fires in the valley to dispose of bodies and waste and by the New Testament times it’s name, Gehenna, came to mean Hell.  The most interesting thing to me about all of this is that it is the same place that will be included in the ultimate restored Jerusalem that Jesus will uses as his capital (Jeremiah 31:40).

Verse 36 begins the next little section (verses 36-41)  In these verses God first confirms that the people of the city will be sent into exile.  But then he tells Jeremiah that he will bring this rebellious people who have angered him back to the land where they will be his people and he will be their God.  Verse 39 is very cool because we see that God will help his people (and remember that ultimately that will include all who turn to God through Jesus) love him and obey him (the meaning of “heart” and “way”).  We also see that following God is “for our good” and the good of others.  In verse 40 God continues this idea and takes it to the highest level when he tells Jeremiah that he is going to make an “everlasting covenant” (a forever promise) to help his people love him (the idea of fear is one of respect and honor) and never turn away from him.  And he confirms that he will never turn away from us.  Verse 41 end this little section with God describing part of the good he is going to bring into the lives of the Israelites; he will restore them to the land, they will be planted like a well watered tree.  And we see that this makes God happy.

The last little section in today’s reading begins with God using the destruction of Jerusalem to confirm the restoration of the city and the people.  In verse 42 we see that the disaster is at least upon the city, in verse 43 the destruction is spoken of in past tense.  At least this last little part may have been after the return of Nebuchadnezzar and his destruction of the city (587-586 BC).  Remember that Jeremiah had spent a great deal of time predicting the destruction, now that it had happened it was confirmation that he was a true prophet of God; just as surly as the city was destroyed it would be restored.  Verse 44 is a direct answer to Jeremiah concerns, doubts, fears, what ever they were, in verse 25.  Here at the end of the section wee see God confirming that the very thing Jeremiah had done in the symbolic act would again happen in the restored kingdom.  He even mentions the very area that Jeremiah paid for land in; the land of Benjamin.

The thing I like most in today’s reading is how the valley of Ben-hinnom will be part of the new capital of the forever kingdom.  That is cool to me because no matter how ugly, disgusting, evil and unclean something is God can fix it.  According to 1 John 2:2 Jesus death paid for the sins of the whole world.  That’s comforting because I know that his death took care of all of my sins, no matter how bad they were, and there were some pretty bad ones.  NO one should ever think that they are too dirty for God to clean up.   Along with that it is very cool that God was right there with answers for Jeremiah.  Maybe it’s good we don’t know exactly what was going on in verse 25.  If we knew exactly what Jeremiah was going through we might think God could only fix that and not us where we are.  God was there for Jeremiah and he is there for each one of us too. The key is to turn to him (verse 33) God can make you clean, in fact it is his passion; he pours his whole “heart and soul” into helping us.  That word “soul” can mean “being”; all that God is he uses to help us.  That’s amazing considering he made all that is; that’s a lot of power.

God thank you for loving me with all that you are.  Thank you for applying all that you are to helping me see and understand and turn back to you.  Thank you for not using all that power to force me into this relationship that we have.  Thank you for drawing me to you.  Help me love you even a fraction of how much you love me.  Sorry for my part in messing up your “very good” creation.  Thank you for restoring me, help me be a part of your good work.