Jeremiah 17:14-27.  In yesterday’s reading Jeremiah returned to a major theme of prophets, warning of coming punishment.  But even in the strongest language we saw little tiny bits of hope’ a person who puts their hope in God will be blessed (Jeremiah 17:7-8).  The Hebrew word translated “blessed” is also translated “kneel down”, “salute”, and “praise”, the idea seems to be one of thankfulness; a blessing is something that we are thankful for and want to bow down, praise or thank God for, and salute him. Jeremiah also saw God as a fort or safe place for him (sanctuary, v. 12).  So we saw that the real source of help for us in life is the one true God.  We will not find help for life and eternity in false gods, others, or in our own schemes.

In some translations verses 12-13 are groped with 14-18 as a paragraph.  I had us read them yesterday because they sort of sum up the thoughts from the other verses we read, but they also work with the first part of today’s reading too.  In verses 14-18 (or 12-18) we have Jeremiah looking for help, the kind of help he just told us we would not find without God.  In 12-13 he tells God (and us) that God is the only real place to go for help and that people who look somewhere else will be ashamed.  The Hebrew word translated “shame” is sometimes translated as “confounded”.  “Confonded” means to be mixed up or confused and has the idea of not having our expectations met.  People who look to false gods, others, or even try to work out life and eternity without God are not going to see their expectations met; they will be confused, confounded, ashamed, and very, very sorry.

In verse 14 Jeremiah is not having such a great life either; he asks God to “heal” him and to “save” him.  The two Hebrew words that Jeremiah wrote here are “rapha” and “yasha”.  Healing of course is the idea of fixing something that is broken; making it like new.  The idea behind “save” is to deliver or bring to a safe place.  Many people hated Jeremiah because of his messages, he certainly needed to be brought to a safe place, but he was also in danger from within.  Remember one of the things he was warning the people about was not to trust in their own schemes (Jeremiah 17:9-11); the heart is desperately wicked.  Jeremiah was just a man like the rest of them (and us) and certainly was tempted to “go with the flow”.  Paul, who clearly loved Jesus and was trusting him to be his savior (he also was used by God to write about half of the New Testament), struggled a great deal with this type of temptation (see Romans 7:14-25).  But he has already told us that God is the safe place we need to go (v. 12 where the throne represents God).  At the end of verse 14 Jeremiah expresses a similar idea when he says that God is his “praise”.  That word in his language is “tehhillah”.  It comes from the Hebrew word “halal”.  “Halal” is part of the word “halleluiah”, the other part is the abbreviated name of God, “Ya” (as in Yahweh).  “Halal” means to “shine”, “boast”, or “celebrate”.  What we have in that word is a picture of celebrating about who God is or what he has done.  We might say that Jeremiah is giving God a “shout out” in this verse.

In verse 15 we see the first type of trouble in Jeremiah’s life; trouble from the outside.  Some people keep challenging him to give them God’s words.  They seem to think the words that Jeremiah have been delivering aren’t God’s.  As Jeremiah continues to talk to God about his life we see that his words have been faithful to God.  He hasn’t abandon the job God gave him of trying to lead the people of Judah but has been a faithful shepherd.  In ancient time shepherds would walk ahead of the sheep and call to them.  If the sheep were “connected” to the shepherd (mentally in some way) they would follow him.  The way a prophet leads is mostly through their words, though their actions also speak to the people.  Although Jeremiah’s message has contained a lot of words about coming trouble and punishment he has not been mean about it; he has not desired that the punishment come on the people (he has asked God to deal with his enemies though).  He then tells God that his words have been out there where God could see them.  In this part of the prayer we see that he understands that “God is watching”.  These words imply that he has been faithful to what God asked him to do and say.  If he had been unfaithful he would have expected to be corrected by God.

In verses 17-18 we learn that the trouble from outside wasn’t just verbal; guys disagreeing with him, but that he was suffering physically too.  In verse 17 when he asks God not to “be a terror to him” it does not mean that he thinks that God is sending the trouble on him but that he realizes that the trouble is there because he is speaking the truth for God.  Jesus told his followers in John 15:20 that if people hurt Jesus that they would also hurt his followers, Jeremiah was suffering for following God.  So Jeremiah was asking for protection from God, the second half of verse 17 makes this very clear; God is his safe place.  In verse 18 we see an example of Jeremiah looking for God to deal with his enemies.  In verse 16 he told God he didn’t really want to see the people of Judah suffer the “woeful day” (the invasion he had been predicting), but here he definitely wants his enemies to be punished, even asking for a double destruction.  The idea behind “double destruction” seems to be that it is complete and final.

Verses 19-23 are kind of interesting.  Jeremiah asks God to deal with the people who have been giving him trouble for representing God.  So what does God do?  He sends Jeremiah to the various gates into Jerusalem; he specifically makes a point not to miss the gate used regularly by the king.  He’s putting Jeremiah on network television, on all the channels at the same time.  Then he tells Jeremiah to speak to the “kings” of Judah and all the people.  For the most part Judah only had one king at a time.  Later on in Jeremiah’s career there were several kings, one after another, this message was to all of them.

In verses 21-22 the message is one of the ten commandments, “remember the Sabbath (seventh day of the week, Saturday in a Jewish week and ours too) and keep is special”.  Jeremiah also makes it very clear how they were to make that day special, they were not to carry any loads in and out of the city nor out of their houses on that day; no work.  Then he reminds them that this commandment goes way back; It’s one God gave their ancestors.

In verse 23 we see that the people totally rejected what Jeremiah told them.  It’s interesting that instead of hiding Jeremiah in some safe place; letting Jeremiah lay low for a while, that he sends him right back out to keep preaching. I’m sure Jeremiah might have liked a vacation instead.  But the message Jeremiah was given could not have been any clearer; this was definitely from God.  In verse 15 the people asked, “Where is the word of the LORD (Yahweh)?”  In verse 21 Jeremiah says to them “Here is the word of the LORD (Yahweh)…”  It was clearly God’s words and they rejected it.

In verses 24-27 Jeremiah continues the message from God even though the people are not listening.  This part of the message lists certain things that will happen depending on how the people respond to the message Jeremiah has just given them.  If they will obey the commandment then God will bring the forever kingdom of David that the people have been looking for but it thie do not obey then God will allow the very gates of Jerusalem (you know the one used by the kings and the ones used by the people) to be burned to the ground along with the palace.  God had promised the people of Israel that one day there would be a permanent kingdom and that a descendant of David would rule permanently as king (2 Samuel 7:8-17).  That prediction or promise made by God to David (then the king of all Israel) had some fulfillment in his son, Solomon, who built the first temple for God in Jerusalem.  But other parts of the promise or prediction have not yet come true and will not until the events of Revelation 19-21 happen.  In those chapters we see the final king of Israel, Jesus the son of David and of God, ruling not just Jerusalem but the entire creation forever.  But before that day comes God is building his kingdom one person at a time.  The conditions that Jeremiah laid out were about loving and honoring God or not.  If the kingdom is just castles and fields and rivers and streets it is nothing.  God’s kingdom is about the people and Jeremiah is challenging the people to turn their lives back to God.  If they would listen and act on God’s words to them the kingdom would come and God would be honored in their midst. But if they didn’t listen and obey the kingdom would have to be delayed.

God will fulfill his promises but he has the bigger picture in mind, one that results in a multitude of people with him forever, honoring him and praising him (Revelation 19).  Jesus will be king (Revelation 19:11-16) but he is also the good shepherd (John 10:11-16) and he came to give his lie for his sheep (us) so that we could live with him (John 10:16) and have a full life (eternally with him, John 10:10, 28; 1 John 5:11-13).  In time and space there will be a forever kingdom of God filled with people who will live eternally with God.  But there are also those who will not enjoy this forever kingdom.  God has given us a choice just like he gave a choice to those in Jeremiah’s day.  In Jeremiah’s day the choice was about the Sabbath.  Keeping that law or any of them would not bring people into God’s forever kingdom (Romans 3:20) but the choice they had to make was symbolic of their commitment to God.  If they had shown a dedication and commitment to God then God would have done the rest.  We have a choice too.  In John 1:12 we are told that as many as received Jesus, those who believe in who he is (God in human flesh) and what he has done (died in our place to deal with the penalties of our disobedience), will be given the right to be with God forever.  God has given you the choice, God is calling to you.  Have you stiffened your neck or are you turning your head to listen?  I hope you are responding to God and I hope to spend eternity forever with you and God.

God thank you for calling out to me.  Thank you for helping me hear and listen and respond.  Let me continue to respond to you each day.  Help me hear your Spirit.  Let me do the things that please and honor you.  Thank you for taking the time to write down your words to us.  Thank you for making your message clear.  Thank you for the warnings too.  You are so loving and so fair.  Help many read your words and turn to you.  Let these posts help others clearly understand the choice they have and how to live with you and for you for eternity.  Be honored by my life.  Thank you for eternity with you. 

Jeremiah 17:1-13.  In yesterday’s reading we saw God dealing with the sin of Judah.  Specifically we saw that he was dealing with their living for false gods.  Because of their bad example he was going to banish them from the land.  But we also saw the mercy of God because he was eventually going to bring them back and give them another chance.  Today’s reading returns to the fact of their rebellion against God.  It is common in the books written by the prophets for there to be this sort of back and forth; it is important for us to see that we have broken our relationship with God but it is also important to have hope.  Several months ago there was a story in the news of a young man who went up to the roof of his High School jumped off into the courtyard, killing himself.  He was a senior and had been a very good student but friends said his girl friend had just broken up with him.  He clearly felt alone and had no hope for his future so he ended his life.  That is very sad.  God created each of us to have a relationship with him forever.  That relationship was broken by our cheating on him, but there is hope; our relationship can be restored and even better if we allow Jesus to take care of the mess and allow the Holy Spirit to help us make less messes in the future.

In verse 1 we see that God does not just ignore our cheating though.  A stylus is a tool for writing.  This one is made of iron, a strong metal.  It needs to be strong because it has a hard stone tip (some translations say diamond others say flint) so it can make a good permanent mark on a tablet (the word usually refers to stone, metal or wood).  This is no weak pencil mark that can fade or wash off.  In this case the permanent mark is on the harts of the people.  What is written on their hearts is a record of their rebellion against God; their unfaithfulness to him.  A second copy is written on the “horns of their altars”  An altar is a place where sacrifices are made, like a table; a chopping block or place to build a fire up off the ground.  The word horn can also mean “rays”; like sunshine.  Maybe part of the decoration to their gods was some sort of sun rays built onto the altar (kind of like some portrayals of Jesus or the apostles or angles with a “halo”).  Different words used for worship or honor in the Bible have the idea of glowing or shining so maybe that was what the altar builders tried to put here.  When the people would come to their altars not only would their hearts “speak” to them about their unfaithfulness but they would be reminded by the words written on these fake halos.  In verse 2 we see this is a good place to put this reminder because they were thinking about these places of false worship as much as they thought about their children.

Because of al of this unfaithfulness God was going to let the land be overtaken.  He especially points out that the very center of their false religions, the high places where the altars were built, would be taken over by the invaders.  The sad thing is that the people had been unfaithful for so long that they were going to willingly walk away from the great place God had given them and the great relationship he was offering too.  In Leviticus 26 we see the land promised to the various tribes of the Israelite people called an inheritance.  It was something permanent that each family was to own (Leviticus 26:53).  In the first part of Leviticus 26 we see a description of the relationship between God and the Israelites as they live in this land.  IN Leviticus 26:12 we see that God wants to “walk among them”.  But there were conditions described in the surrounding verses.   The Israelite people were warned about what we see going on here in Jeremiah’s time in those conditions (Leviticus 26:14-39).  We see in verse 4 that God is very upset about their unfaithfulness.  Don’t make the mistake of seeing God as evil and destructive though.  God is upset because of how serious it is when people reject him; an eternity without the good of God in our existence is very bad and because God loves us so much it makes him very mad when he sees us walking away.  It’s like a parent who sees their kids doing drugs or other destructive  things, they get very mad (or should).

The people of Israel in Jeremiah’s day were not just looking to fake manmade gods for help in life.  As they faced invasion they also looked to other nations for help.  One place they often looked for help was Egypt.  That is very ironic that they would look for help from the very nation that had made them slaves way back in the days before Moses.  In verses 6-7 the people are warned that if they put their trust in men that they will be like a bush in the desert.  They will not have a full good life.  Their land will be like a stony field full of salt (which makes the soil unsuitable for growing plants).  In contrast if they want their lives to be full and productive they need to trust in Yahweh (LORD).  The idea is repeated twice and that emphasizes how important it is to trust in Yahweh and not false gods or others.

In verses 9-11 we see why we should not trust in our feelings and desires when it comes to life.  Our hearts are deceitful.  That word comes from a root that means to “follow at the heels” or “grab by the heel”.  Both of these remind me of one of my dogs.  Some dogs like to follow us very closely, in fact there is a saying for when someone is following us too closely, “Don’t dog me!”  One of my dogs might be part Australian Heeler.  I saw a video of one of these dogs with some cows.  The dog would come up close behind the cow and bite it in the “heel” to get it moving.  The cows hated it but moved.  In the first case the dog really doesn’t give direction and in the other case it make us move.  Our hearts are both of these, they don’t really know which way we should go but they push us in some direction or another anyway.   The word can also mean crooked and that is what happens when a dog dogs you; you jump all over the place and don’t follow a very good path.  The reason our hear is deceitful is because it is incurably sick, an incurable disease is one that leads to death or a lifetime of misery, our hearts lead us to both.  This totally contradicts what people in our world want us to think; they insist that people are basically good, according to Jeremiah and God this is not true.

Although our ways are crooked God’s are not.  Although we don’t really understand what we are doing or why God does and he is fair.  Years ago ai heard of schools that gave you credit on spelling tests for words that you spelled incorrectly but in a way that was phonetically correct.  We might let someone off for their good intentions (or creative spelling) but God looks at the reality of our actions and works in our lives accordingly; with God there is no deception (see James 1:17).

Although the evidence is out there for God some people ignore it, they think they can do what they want and get away with it.  Jeremiah uses a saying from his days about a type of bird (it probably was a sand grouse not a partridge) that hatches eggs for other birds.  As the babies grow up they realize the “mom” isn’t one of them and they leave her.  We think we can get rewards without following the rules, and sometimes we do, but in the end we usually wind up broke and laughed at.  Verses 12-13 really sum up the thoughts; the original one true God (here represented by his throne) is the place we need to look for help, not false gods, not other, not even our own schemes.  On the other hand those who reject God will see only shame, god will keep track of those who have rejected him.  God is the source of real life, in a desert climate like Israel water is very much a symbol of life, and here God is compared to spring (living) water.  Make no mistake either this is not one of the fake gods this is none other than Yahweh, the one true God.

In John 4 Jesus has a conversation at a well dug by Jacob.  Jacob and Israel are the same guy (see “What’s in a Name?”).  This is the guy that all the tribes of Israel are named after and the one who the nation is named after, one of the big names in Israel.  Jesus asks the woman (a mixed descendant of one of the tribe of the Northern Kingdom) for water she is astonished that a Jew would talk to her.  Also she is surprised that a man would talk to a woman.  Jesus uses her hesitation to inform her that if she knew who he really was she would have asked him for a drink and he would have given her “living water” (spring water not just well water).  She is very surprised since this well was a heroic feat by one of the heroes of their past, Jacob.  “Are you greater than Jacob”, she wants to know.  Jesus then informs her that the “water” he has to offer will give her eternal life (an everlasting relationship of some sort).  She wants the water but still doesn’t get the full picture.  Jesus then shows here that he is the promised one from the Old Testament.  She eventually starts to understand who Jesus is and is on the path to eternity with God (John 4:36-39).  In the story the woman was distracted by the actions of others and by here own ideas and desires (she wanted water that would quench her then and there thirst while Jesus wanted to deal with her real spiritual need).  It’s the same distractions we saw n today’s reading in Jeremiah.  We need to look out for false gods, the ideas of other, and or own desires and trust God for how to live now and for eternity.

God thank you for being involved.  Thank you for keeping my sins in front of me.  Help me not ignore what you are saying to me.  Help me listen to you and not others.  Help me listen to you and not my own desires.  Thank you for your help and your patience.  Let my life honor you and help others honor you too.