Jeremiah 13:1-14.  Wow again.  That’s not what I thought when I first started to read this, though.  In the beginning of today’s reading I didn’t quite yawn but I was waiting for the point.  In the beginning of today’s reading God uses an everyday event as a picture to teach what he wants to say.  The everyday event wasn’t very impressive though, Jeremiah went our and bought a new pair of underwear.  Some translations call it a waistband but it really is underwear.  The underwear was made of linen.  Linen is made from the natural fiber of the flax plant.  It is like cotton but stronger and cooler.  Linen is the cloth that God commanded the clothes of the priests be made out of (Exodus 39).  In Revelation 15:6 we see angles in Heaven dressed in linen and, maybe most importantly, in Revelation 19:8 it is used symbolically of the God honoring actions of believers in Jesus (the church which is called the “bride of Christ” in that chapter (See Ephesians 5:21-33).

No one seems to know why Jeremiah was told not to put the cloth in water.  A couple of ideas came to mind though.  It could be that the point was this was a brand new garment, it was clean and did not need to be washed.  The other idea is not that it didn’t need to be washed but that it wasn’t washed.  I think that that is the better point and here is why.  Jeremiah takes a brand new pair of underwear and puts it on.  In verse four (after some time but probably not long) Jeremiah still has the underwear on.  OK.  Now God gives him another message, “Go to the Euphrates River and bury the underwear.”  The word translated Euphrates is “Perath” sort of.  The Old Testament is written in Hebrew.  When it was written the paper or skins that it was written on were precious, expensive and hard to come by, so to conserve space the words were written without vowels or spaces.  The word Perath contains the same consonants in Hebrew as the word for the Euphrates river.  The word appears 19 times in the bible and is always translated Euphrates.  The Euphrates River is about 350 miles from Jerusalem and it would take about four months to travel that far (each way).  Because of tht fact some bible experts try to say that this reference here in Jeremiah is to a spring about four miles north of Jeremiah’s hometown that was also named Perath.  But that would be the only time that this word is used to describe some place other than the Euphrates River.  As we will see the picture Jeremiah is painting is about Judah and their spiritual life (or lack of spiritual life).  We know that God is going to use the Babylonians to punish Judah. Babylon (the capital of the Babylonian empire) is on the banks of the Euphrates River, so I think that that is probably where Jeremiah went, it makes a better point.

Back to the water.  So Jeremiah has on a brand new pair of underwear and is told to go to the Euphrates River and bury it.  After four months of walking across the desert I think he would want to bury it, and forget it ever existed, especially if it was never washed.  Jeremiah then went home (I hope he packed a spare pair).  When he got home God spoke to him again “after many days”.  Now I don’t think it was necessary for it to be many days after he got home, he may have been counting from the last time God spoke to him at the beginning of the trip.  Anyway a lot of time has gone by and God sends Jeremiah back to the Euphrates to dig up the underwear.  When he did as he was told he discovered the underwear all rotten and falling apart, way different from the day he bought it, it was totally useless (no doubt).

In Psalm 1 we see the description of a “righteous” person.  Righteous means that their life is “right” with God; their actions make God happy.  In verses 1-2 we see that this person doesn’t follow the bad example of people around him in the world but that he is dedicated to learning and following God’s word; the Bible.  The man is compared to a tree planted by a stream whose roots can drink from it’s water.  I think that the water is symbolic of God’s word.  According to Titus 3:5 a person gets to go to Heaven because of God’s mercy.  Our deeds are not right before God but he helps us get clean and live for him.  This is done with the help of the Holy Spirit who makes us new (washing of regeneration) and keeps us new (renewal).  According to Jesus the Holy Spirit works by helping us remember the words of Jesus (John 14:26).  In Ephesians 5:26 we also see that Jesus makes his “bride” (the church, a group of believers in Jesus) pure by washing her with the “word” (a reference to God’s words, the Bible).

Back to today’s reading.  In verses 8-11 we learn that the underwear represents the people of Judah.  The people of Judah (as part of the descendants of Israel; the Israelites or Jews)  were supposed to be a special people chosen by God to be close to him (you don’t get much closer than a pair of underwear, v. 11).  That relationship would then be seen by the world and the world would learn about God’s purity and standards and love and mercy.  God would be recognized by the whole world and honored, but the Israelites did not listen (to God’s words and act on them)(v. 11).  The people of Judah were completely useless and ruined (with respect to their purpose).  Instead of teaching the world about how special God is they had “walked in the council of the wicked, stood in the path of the disobedient (sinners) and sat down in the seat of mockers.”

I think the point of the water is this.  Jeremiah’s underwear saw a lot of use, four months across the desert.  It needed to be washed but wasn’t.  It sat there in the dirt and became completely useless and rotted.  The people of Judah were not allowing the “water of God’s word” to clean and nourish them, they too had become rotted and useless (spiritually).  What the people of Judah desperately needed was for God to clean them up, but as we have seen god won’t force himself on us, and they were not willing.

In verse 12 Jeremiah introduces a new word picture, a wine jug.   Objects are usually made for a purpose.  Paper is for writing on, plates are for eating off of, and wine jugs are for storing or serving wine.  Sometimes the purpose of an object changes.  I have some food storage containers that I bought for storing flour, sugar, and other items I buy in big bags.  These containers are about the size of a five gallon bucket (think of the orange ones from Home Depot) but they are not buckets they are for food.  My kids started using one of them to wash their cars, now I wont use it for food anymore (they think I could if I just washed it out but I don’t think so).  In verse 12 God got the people of Judah thinking of a wine jug, how it is meant to be filled up.  They were insulted, of course they knew that wine jugs should be filled.  Then he told them that they needed to be filled up to.  If they were filled with wine they would become drunk, drunk people stumble around and get hurt, and they would be like drunk people, hurt.  But not because they were staggering into each other, God was going to smash their lives.  He had been patient with them and they had not followed him, now they were going to get a taste of what they had become.  They had been the new underwear, about as close to God as you can get, but they did not stay clean and eventually they became completely rotten and useless.  Now they were going to get what they had earned, in verse 14 God basically is saying, “No more mister nice guy.”

In tomorrow’s reading this dark and sad picture continues but there is a ray of hope at the end of it.  There is no hope in today’s reading, at least not here at the end.  In the end evil must be dealt with and the proper end of evil is destruction.  But there is hope if we look back to the beginning, the underwear could have been washed, it didn’t have to be buried.  The people of Judah had kept themselves unclean; they were supposed to be a people for praise, for renown and for glory (v. 11), “Hey check out those underwear!  Have you ever seen such white underwear!”   “But they did not listen” (to God’s word and get regularly washed by it) and so they had become dirty and useless.  We need to be casreful not to miss the opportunity we have of learning from God’s word.  In Psalm 119 the write asks how can a young man (or woman) stay clean?  Then he gives the answer:  By following God’s word.  Of course the lesson of the Israelites is we cant do this alone (see “The Old Testament Connection”) we need help, and that is what we have in the Holy Spirit.  Jesus blood is an important part in being clean too (Revelation 7:14). By taking our place Jesus made things right between us and God (Romans 3), that paved the way for the Holy Spirit to enter our lives and help us obey God day by day.  But we need to be willing and we need to fill our lives with God’s word.  The word is the soap that the Holy Spirit uses to help us stay clean and God honoring each day.  Then we can be a “light” to the world (Matthew 5:14-16).  Be beautiful clean underwear today.  Stay close to him and let the world wee how good he is.  Don’t live in the stubbornness, pride, and wickedness of your own heart let his word make you beautiful.

God thank you for not destroying me.  I was dirty and useless.  But you died for me and made me clean.  You opened my life to your presence.  Then you filled me with your Spirit.  Help me “drink” from your word each day.  Then help me listen for the Holy Spirit reminding me of what I have learned. Help me not be stubborn.  Renew me and make me clean.  Let my life bring you honor.

Jeremiah 12:7-17.  Wow!  That’s my first reaction after reading today’s verses.  In verses 7-13 Jeremiah describes the coming destruction by Babylon.  He uses the past tense because when God decides something is going to happen it happens; it’s a good as done.  It’s interesting though the words God uses to describe the people of Judah (and Israel for that matter, look back at Jeremiah 11:17 where God brings up the “house of Israel”, they may be gone but not forgotten).  In verse 7 God calls the people of Judah, “My house”, “the Beloved of my soul”, and “my inheritance”.  In verses 8 and 9 he uses “my inheritance” again.  And in verse 10 he calls Judah “my pleasant field”.  All of these descriptions tell me that God cares very much for the people of Judah, they are his, and valuable to him.

In verse 10 we are told that “many shepherds” are responsible for the destruction.  Some Bible experts believe that this in some way is a reference to the Babylonian army who actually invaded and destroyed Judah (well from the point of vies of our story “was going to come and destroy Judah”).  I suppose that the men in the Babylonian army could have been shepherds back home and this could be a literal description of them but it seems more likely that Jeremiah is referring back to the religious and political leaders who had led the people astray.  That is how the word was used back in Jeremiah 10:21 and so far in Jeremiah the word “shepherd” has only been used for leaders in Judah.  In verse 1 we find out that the whole land has been destroyed because no one has cared for it.  In Psalm 23 we learn that when Yahweh (LORD, the one true God) is our shepherd or leader that we are taken care of, have peace even in the middle of troubling events, that we clearly belong to him (the anointing part) and that we have security now and in eternity.  In John 10:10-15 we learn that Jesus is the good shepherd who cared for his sheep even to the point of death (which he actually did).  Here in Jeremiah no one cares and that is why the land is going to be invaded, this is clearly a picture of the people moving away from God at least partly because the leaders have not been good leaders and kept them close to God.  It is sad that even though the king (or at least one of the kings during the time Jeremiah served the people), Josiah, tried to move the people back toward God, that it was not enough.  During the American Revolution Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “We must all hang together, Gentlemen, or we will surely all hang alone.”(some sources say it was Thomas Paine but the point is still the same)  He was indicating that if the revolutionaries did not work together that they would fail and all be executed for their treason against England.  As believers we need to “hang together”; work as a team, if we want to make a difference in our world.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t try, even if it seem like it’s just us, Jeremiah kept telling the people to turn back to God, but we need to realize that our society as a whole may fail.  There are many shepherds in our lives today leading people away from God but we need to continue to be his voice in our world.

In verses 12-13 we see a picture of the invasion and the peoples lives are totally disrupted.  There is no peace and they are not even able to care for their crops.  They have planted but the fields have been filled with weed.  I like to garden but it is hard to keep up sometimes.  If my garden were the total source of my food it would be a full time job.  Sometimes when I get busy with other stuff weeds come up and practically take over, even getting bigger than the plants I have planted.  Here the people have been distracted by the invasion.  When they go back to harvest the wheat they planted all they get are weeds.  Jeremiah makes an interesting comment about this in verse 13, he tells them to be ashamed of their harvest because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.  I wonder if this is a hint back to Genesis 3:17-19 where weeds were one of the consequences of Adam’s disobedience and rebellion (sin).  That would fit with the anger of God.  Here the curse comes back full force when they are double affected by the consequences of their sin.  The invasion is one consequence and then the weeds.  They should have gotten the message and been ashamed.  Shame should lead to a change of heart, but in this situation it doesn’t seemed to have gone that way.

Another thing to notice is that, not only is the invasion called the “anger of the LORD”, but the invaders are called the “sword of the LORD”.  This tells me that what is going on is in God’s control and for God’s purposes.  Some people don’t like this part of the picture of God but remember that the consequence of sin is forever separation from God.  In Hebrew 9:27 we are told that everyone dies once then there is judgment from God.  The next verse in Hebrews tells us that since Jesus died once physically for our sins that those sins will not be brought up at that judgment for those who have put their faith in him.  On the other hand those who have not given their existence to Jesus will be judged according to their deeds.  Since we all have sinned that judgment will lead to banishment from heaven for ever (Romans 3:23, Revelation 20:11-15).  Physical death is awful; it is the unnatural consequence of our disobedience and rebellion against God.  But worse is the eternal death we suffer if we don’t get right with God, and we can only do that through Jesus (John 14:6).  So rebellion is very serious and deserves and requires a serious response.

It is clear from the next part though,  that God’s intention is not total destruction; he is looking for a change of heart.  God want’s people to come back to him.  First we see that the neighbors of Judah who have been misleading them also have their lives disturbed.  It’s not just Judah or Israel who lose their lands, but in verse 15 we see that God has compassion and will eventually bring them back to their land.  From verse 16 we learn that this compassion is talking about the neighbors.  But the compassion is conditional.  These neighbors will be brought back if they will learn to honor the true God, Yahweh (LORD).  They had taught the Israelites to honor Baal (their false god) but now they would need to learn from the Israelites to honor the true God if they wanted to return home and live in peace.  We see in verse 16 that the mercy must have been offered to the Israelites as well because we see that the other nations will be living in the midst of God’s people.  The condition is made very clear in verse 17 where we learn that if the people do not turn to God they will not be restored.

I like it that God both warns and forgives.  In Psalm 23 we see that the shepherd has a tool called both a rod and a staff.  I understand that it was used to hook a sheep and pull it out of a bad situation but that is could also be used to “spank” a sheep.  God will use harsh discipline if he needs to, to get our attention, but in the end he wants us to be comforted.  God wants to forgive but we need to turn to him, just like the nations who led the Israelites astray.  If we do not respond the consequences are very severe, eternity away from God; a situation compared to destruction, but it is a real and conscience existence (Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 51).  God is very patient and loving but he has standards we need to respect that.  We also need to realize he will not force us to be with him, we need to chose; just like the nations around Judah would need to choose.  Finally we need to realize that choosing God means giving up some of our old life.  We need to live for him not the other things we have come to worship and give first place in our lives.

God thank you for your love, thank you for a chance, thank you for showing how serious this all is.  Help me be a good shepherd, help me be worthy of the title “beloved”, help me show you to the world around me and lead them to your everlasting house.