Jeremiah 22:13-30.\u00a0 Yesterday\u2019s reading ended with Jeremiah telling us to feel sorry for Shallum (Jehoahaz).\u00a0 He was going to be exiled and never get to return to Jerusalem again.\u00a0 He was king for only three months when it happened, pretty sad.\u00a0 We also saw that God reputation and character were on the line; since Yahweh (the personal name of the one true God) was identified with the Jewish people their actions reflected on him, that is part of the reason God had certain standards for them found in the Law of Moses (see \u201cThe Old Testament Connection\u201d for more about this).\u00a0 The first part of today\u2019s reading gives us peek at God\u2019s character.<\/p>\n
Verse 13 starts our as a warning, \u201cWoe\u201d means something like, \u201cLook out!\u201d\u00a0 That is what you need to do when you live in ways that are contrary to God.\u00a0 For the Jewish people is was about their example, but it\u2019s also about how God made our world work.\u00a0 A lot of people run around predicting doom, \u201cToo many greenhouse gasses, the ice is going to melt and the world flood!\u201d (See Genesis 9:11, but of course that would be a total flood).\u00a0 Over the years there have been a lot of ideas about the world falling apart because we were violating it in one way or another, in fact the recent movie \u201cAvatar\u201d was about just that idea.\u00a0 Most, if not all, of those ideas are just a lot of speculation.\u00a0 But God did make the world and life with rules and when we break them there are consequences, jump off of a high enough object and splat you\u2019re dead, cheat on your spouse (or just live with someone without marrying them) and lives get messed up; God\u2019s laws, both physical and spiritual, are not speculation.\u00a0 So we need to \u201clook out!\u201d<\/p>\n
Verse 13 gives us two big boxes to put God\u2019s rule in, one is called \u201crighteousness\u201d and the other is called \u201cjustice\u201d. \u00a0Righteousness means what is right, and guess who gets to tell us what is right?\u00a0 God!\u00a0 He made the world and he decides what is right, it\u2019s like a current advertisement for parents helping their kids live healthy lives.\u00a0 Mom wants the kids to be more active and shuts off the TV, \u201cMY house, my rules\u201d is the slogan.\u00a0 \u201cGod\u2019s universe, God\u2019s rules\u201d, but like the mom the rules are good for us, the best for us.\u00a0 The word \u201cjustice\u201d means to make a decision, like a judge, but the idea is that the decision is fair or right.\u00a0 Righteousness means that we are doing what God says is right in his eyes, justice is doing right (again in God\u2019s eyes) in how we treat others<\/span>.\u00a0 Justice is actually a part of righteousness and verse 13 may be using a common form of communicating ideas called \u201cparallelism\u201d.\u00a0 The two ideas may really be one idea that is repeated.<\/p>\n In verses 13-14 Jeremiah uses the idea of building a house to help us understand the ideas of righteousness and justice.\u00a0 He says you better look out if you build yourself a big nice house but take advantage of the people who built it for you.\u00a0 In the example the person even went so far as to not pay the person who worked on the house.<\/p>\n In verse 14 it mentions that the house has cedar paneling inside.\u00a0 Most of the houses in that part of the world at that time (actually in most of the world, even today) were made out of masonry (stones, bricks, concrete blocks stacked on each other.\u00a0 Wood is more rare in a lot of the world than rocks, stone, or dirt and is usually used just for beams to hold up the roof or sometimes doors and windows.\u00a0 There was some wood in eastern Israel (remember verse 6 where God used the region of Gilead and the forested mountains of Lebanon as an example of beauty) but not tons and tons of it, and it would take a lot of word to haul it all the way to Jerusalem.\u00a0 But this house, in our reading today, does not have just any wood it has cedar paneling.\u00a0 The cedar came from the extreme north from the mountains of Lebanon, it was very good wood.\u00a0 And notice that this is being used as paneling.\u00a0 Don\u2019t think cheap thin plywood here, this paneling would have been thick, probably an inch or more.\u00a0 There were no machines in those days either, it would have to have been sawn out of the log by hand or maybe carefully split and then had scraped until it was smooth.\u00a0 And paneling isn\u2019t even necessary, this was to decorate or cover the stone walls.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This was an expensive house and would have shown that the person had lots and lots of money.<\/p>\n In verse 15 Jeremiah addresses a king and asks if a person becomes king by showing how rich he is, by having the prettiest palace.\u00a0 Jeremiah then brings up the person\u2019s \u201cfather\u201d who was also a king.\u00a0 From the following verses we learn that this \u201cfather\u201d was a good king.\u00a0 Remember in yesterday\u2019s reading we saw Shallum (Jehoahaz) exiled after only three months as king because he was wicked or bad.\u00a0 It would seem like today\u2019s reading is a continuation of yeaterday\u2019s story about Shallum (Jehoahaz) and that the \u201cfather\u201d is Josiah.\u00a0 From verse 18, though, we learn that this section is about Jehoaikim.\u00a0 Jehoiakim was Jehoahaz\u2019 older brother and he became king when Necho exiled his brother, so he was a son of Josiah too.<\/p>\n Josiah was a good king who cried when the people in charge of the temple found a part of the Old Testament and brought it to him.\u00a0 Evidently they had lost most or all of the scrolls they had and found one while remodeling the building.\u00a0 He cried because he actually got to read God\u2019s word.\u00a0 He was having the temple fixed up so that they could start using it again to honor God.\u00a0 Josiah was clearly interested in what God thought about life, he was interested in righteousness.\u00a0 In verses 15-16 Jehoiakim is reminded that his father, Josiah, showed his respect for God by treating others right; Josiah was interested in justice.\u00a0 It is interesting in verse 15 that it mentions that Josiah ate and drank.\u00a0 I think the point is that Josiah lived for God and treated other right but that he also had an ok life.\u00a0 He ate and he drank but not while those around him suffered.\u00a0 At the end of verse 16 God asks Jehoiakim (through Jeremiah), \u201cIsn\u2019t that what it really means to know me?\u201d\u00a0 If we really know and understand who God is it should affect how we live.\u00a0 Of course a person could know God and live in fear of him, a lot of people live that way I think.\u00a0 But remember the point that Josaih\u2019s life was ok in verse 15.\u00a0 Here in verse 16 we are told that Josiah\u2019s life was \u201cwell\u201d, that is the Hebrew word \u201ctobe\u201d and it means \u201cpleasant\u201d.\u00a0 Knowing who God is and what he expects isn\u2019t about living in fear of punishment but it is about living for God because it is right and good, sure it makes God happy but it is pleasant for us too.\u00a0 Sin (disobedience and disrespect toward God; sort of the opposite of righteousness) brings a lot of pain and hurt in our lives and our world and that is without God throwing one lighting bolt or one hail stone from heaven.\u00a0 There will be a day when some of that sort of thing happens, and it has happened in the past, but we were made to live righteous lives and when we don\u2019t people get hurt.<\/p>\n In verse 17 we are told that Jehoiakim wasn\u2019t like Josiah, he wasn\u2019t interested in treating others right; he wasn\u2019t interested in justice or righteousness.\u00a0 IN verse 18-19 the man who had feeling for no one but himself would die without any one caring at all; he would be dragged off and buried like a dead farm animal, thrown in the city dump (The people of Jerusalem used a valley next to the city (Ben-hinnom, remember?) as the\u00a0 city dump where they burned the trash from town).\u00a0 The person who competed to have the pest palace around and cheated his works would die with no honor or recognition at all.<\/p>\n Upon his death Jehoiakim\u2019s 18 year old son Jehoaichin took over the kingdom, three months later he faced a siege by Nebuchadnezzar who came to stop a rebellion started by Jehoiachin\u2019s now dead father.\u00a0 According to 2 Kings 23:8 we learn that Jehoiachin followed in his father\u2019s footsteps in dishonoring God.\u00a0 He and his family were quickly captured by Nebuchadnezzar and taken to Babylon.<\/p>\n In verses 20-23 we see God scolding the people of Judah.\u00a0 Lebanon was a neighboring kingdom who\u2019s capital was Damascus.\u00a0 Bashan was another region to the north of Israel and Abarim was to the east.\u00a0 When the region was threatened by invasion, either from Egypt to the south or Babylon or Assyria to the east, the people of the area would sometimes make alliances with each other.\u00a0 God was not in favor of these alliances because they showed distrust in his ability to take care of the Jewish people and often the Jewish people would start to worship the false gods of the people they were allies with.\u00a0 In verse 20 these surrounding kingdoms are called \u201clovers\u201d.\u00a0 In the Old Testament God sometimes uses the relationship of a husband and wife to describe his relationship with the Jewish (Israelite) people.\u00a0 The idea of \u201clovers\u201d here has the idea of cheating behind it.\u00a0 The Jewish people are being inforemed that there are no more allies left, since they relied on these people, instead of God, their response is to cry.\u00a0 Verses 21-22 support the idea that they had been unfaithful to God.\u00a0 God had shown himself to them in the good stuff he had provided (prosperity) but they didn\u2019t give him credit for it.\u00a0 We see in verse 21 that this was not some one time thing either, \u201csince your youth\u201d tells us that the people had a habit of not giving God the credit from the early days of the nation.\u00a0 Anyone who knows a little of the ancient history of Israel knows this is true (The people complained against God almost the first day out of Egypt.\u00a0 Then there was the period of the Judges with cycle after cycle of rebellion.\u00a0 Many of the kings were wicked.\u00a0 And at the time of Jeremiah the northern half of the nation, the kingdom of Israel, had been completely removed from the land because of their history of rebellion.)\u00a0 While God had shown his love and care in the goodness they had enjoyed now he was going to show his purity and holiness (separateness) to them by removing the things he had provided (the Shepherds represent food and provision) and by giving them no where else to turn (their \u201clovers\u201d would already be in captivity to the Babylonian invaders).\u00a0 The reference to Lebanon in verse 23 is probably another example of parallelism (stating the same thing twice in different ways).\u00a0 In this case the reference to Lebanon is no to the country but to the cedar trees from Lebanon.\u00a0 Remember Jehoaikim\u2019s palace in verses 14-15.\u00a0 Now his son, Jehoiachin, living in that same palace will groan and cry when Nebuchadnezzar arrives to take over the city.<\/p>\n In verses 24-30 Jeremiah returns to his messages about the kings (remember in verses 20-23 he was talking to the people in general).\u00a0 Conaih is another name for Jehoiachin.\u00a0 God tells is in verse 24 tht even if he were a beautiful ring God would throw him away.\u00a0 It is interesting that he calls the ring a signet ring.\u00a0 Yesterday I was working on a job and the engineer who designed the work had to come out and inspect a part of it.\u00a0 The Building Department requires him to give them a report on what he sees.\u00a0 Not only dies he have to sign the report (to prove he write it) but he has a special stamp he has to put on it too.\u00a0 In ancient times kings had special rings with emblems on them.\u00a0\u00a0 When there was something important they would wrap it up and put wax or clay on the edge (of a rolled up document) or other closure (like the crack between the rock \u201cdoor\u201d and the cave wall where Jesus was buried).\u00a0\u00a0 The ring would then be pressed into the wax or clay proving that the king had a part in this.\u00a0 The ring (and the impression from it) were proof of the king\u2019s existence, power, and involvement.\u00a0 In this case the nation of Israel was supposed to be that \u201cring\u201d showing the people around them the existence and power of God.\u00a0 Unfortunately they were giving the world the wrong message about God.\u00a0 They were a useless \u201csignet ring\u201d and so God was going to get rid of them (the king, as the leader, represented the people).<\/p>\n In verses 25-27 God is very specific about what is going to happen to Jehoaichin, he and his mother are going to be taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar and will never return to the land of Israel.<\/p>\n In verse 28-30 Jeremiah applies what is going on to the lives of the people.\u00a0 He asks the people if Jehoiachin is despised by God.\u00a0 Is he completely broken?\u00a0 Why is God sending him into exile?\u00a0 The answer to the first question is \u201cyes\u201d; Jehoiachin was completely useless.\u00a0 Although God allows people to repent (come back to him) he also knows when we are past a point where we will not ever come back.\u00a0 He alone knows this sort of thing, others do not, and we don\u2019t either.\u00a0 That is why it is so dangerous for people to ignore God.\u00a0 In the life of Israel there were lots and lots of times when their cheating resulted in trouble.\u00a0 But the worst trouble of all is getting to the point where we could care less about God.\u00a0 That kind of attitude can result in an eternity without God, not just a little trouble in this life.\u00a0 Jehoiachin would not come back to Jerusalem, never again would he be king, but he also would never have any children, his family name would end with him.<\/p>\n If we don\u2019t listen from our youth (v. 21) to the voice of God we too run the risk of being cast out.\u00a0 It is very serious to ignore God because if it becomes a habit it may last for eternity.\u00a0 The good news is that these verse are a warning to the people.\u00a0 In verse 29 God uses the word \u201cland\u201d to refer to the people as a group.\u00a0 The repetition tells me that he is serious about getting their attention.\u00a0 God wants his people to learn the lesson from Jehoiachin and turn back to him.\u00a0 The invasion was coming and that would not change at this point, but the people individually could turn their hearts back to God.\u00a0 In the book of Revelation when God deals with the disobedience and rebellion of everyone, those who did not take advantage of the mercy he offered in Jesus will be cast out of his presence forever.\u00a0 The place where they go is called the lake of fire or the second death (separation)(Revelation 20).\u00a0 In Matthew 25:41 we are told that this place was originally prepared for the Devil and the angles who followed him in rebellion, not for people.\u00a0 That shows me that God doesn\u2019t want us to be away from him but it is where we go, for ever, if we reject him.\u00a0 God loves us and want us to come back to him but he will not force us.\u00a0 Turning away though has serious consequences and if we reject God for too long it may become a habit we won\u2019t break.\u00a0 Don\u2019t ignore God, respond to his love for you today.<\/p>\n God thank you for your patience.\u00a0 Thank you for repeatedly calling to me, to us.\u00a0 Help people listen.\u00a0 And let me never be a useless symbol of your existence and power.\u00a0 Let me make a good impression on the world around me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeremiah 22:13-30.\u00a0 Yesterday\u2019s reading ended with Jeremiah telling us to feel sorry for Shallum (Jehoahaz).\u00a0 He was going to be exiled and never get to return to Jerusalem again.\u00a0 He was king for only three months when it happened, pretty sad.\u00a0 We also saw that God reputation and character were on the line; since Yahweh 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