Jeremiah 24:1-10. In yesterday\u2019s reading God reminded the Israelites that he wasn\u2019t some local hick god but was the one true God who is overall, sees, all, and is yet right here watching each one of us.\u00a0 Prophets are supposed to be messengers for God but in the southern kingdom of Judah, near the end before it was taken over by Babylon, guys who claimed to be prophets were passing off their own words and dreams as messages from God.\u00a0 When the people couldn\u2019t get a message from them they started turning to each other looking for messages from God.\u00a0 But God had told them that they weren\u2019t listening to what he had already said and so there would be no more messages.\u00a0 Anyone who said otherwise would be punished and would suffer everlasting shame; they would be remembered as deceivers and liars.<\/p>\n
In chapters 21-22 Jeremiah had a message from God to the last king (Zedekiah) of the southern kingdom (Judah).\u00a0 The message was that they were going to lose to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.\u00a0 The message also included messages that he had given to the three previous kings of Judah; Shallum (also known as Jehoahaz), Jehoiakim, and Coniah (also known as Jehoiachin).\u00a0 These messages establish a pattern in the Southern Kingdom of disregard for God\u2019s standards.\u00a0 The trouble that was coming in Zedekiah\u2019s day was deserved and, some might say, long over due.\u00a0 In chapter 23 we saw that the people had decided to listen to false prophets instead of true prophets, like Jeremiah, and to the word of God.\u00a0 Twice in chapter 22 (vv. 11,18) God mentions Josiah in relationship to his family members who served after him on the throne.\u00a0 It is interesting that Josiah was the young king who had cried when priests were fixing up the temple and found the word of God stuck in a forgotten corner.\u00a0 He was the king who brought worship of Yahweh (the one true God, the God of the Israelites) back to the people (622 BC).\u00a0 It is sad that just 25 years later, after the initial conquest by the Babylonians that Zedekaih would have to be reminded that this was all happening because the people, his people, had defected from God.\u00a0 I think the reference to Josaih in those two verses was a little hint to Zedekiah about what was going on.<\/p>\n
In chapter 23 we saw that the people had defected in part because of bad leadership.\u00a0 In Jeremiah 23:1 The LORD (Yahweh) tells the \u201cshepherds\u201d of the people that they better look out (\u201cwoe\u201d) because they are destroying and scattering the people.\u00a0 Shepherds are supposed to lead and protect the flock (see Psalm 23).\u00a0 In the time of Jeremiah the priests and prophets would have been these shepherds.\u00a0 Chapter 23 makes it clear that they had misled the people by making up messages instead of giving them truth from God.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s reading Jeremiah returns to the scene of those three kings mentioned in chapter 22.\u00a0 Remember the order was Josiah (the good king), Jehoahaz or Shallum, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin or Coniah, and finally Zedekiah.\u00a0 In 605 BC during the reign of Jehoiakim Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had been busy fighting Egypt and conquering territory around Israel.\u00a0 In that year he took captives from many of the leading cities of the area including Jerusalem.\u00a0 It was at that time that Daniel (Daniel 1:1-7) was taken as a captive to Babylon. Eight years later in 598 BC Jehoiakim decided to rebell against the Babylonian rule.\u00a0 Nebuchadnezzar marched his army back toward Jerusalem.\u00a0 Before Nebuchadnezzar arrived\u00a0 Jehoiakim died and left his 18 year old son, Jehoiachin, in charge.\u00a0 Early in 597 BC Nebuchadnezzar arrived and removed Jehoiachin from the throne, replacing him with Zedekiah.\u00a0 Jehoiachin, his family, and 10,000 leading citizens of Jerusalem were taken captive to Babylon.\u00a0 That is the scene in verse 1 of today\u2019s reading.<\/p>\n
In verse 2 Jeremiah receives a vision from God.\u00a0 Unlike the dreams of the previous chapter this one was from God.\u00a0 In the dream or vision Jeremiah saw two baskets of figs one good and one rotten (verses 3-4).\u00a0 Remember that this vision is to Zedekiah and the people left behind after the invasion.\u00a0 You might also want to remember that these same people are the ones who we saw yesterday being scolded for making up their own visions.\u00a0 It is very likely that the people left behind though of themselves as the lucky ones and of the captives as the ones whom God was punishing.<\/p>\n
In verses 4-7 God explains the vision to Jeremiah but the explaination is just the opposite of what we might expect.\u00a0 The people who had been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar were the ones whom God was going to \u201cbless\u201d.\u00a0 He was going to watch over them, build them up, make them like well cared for plants.\u00a0 Eventually he would bring them back to Jerusalem and Judah.\u00a0 But they would be different.\u00a0 In verse 7 we see that God would use the time in Babylon to help them appreciate him.\u00a0 Their hearts would be turned back to Him.\u00a0 The captives would be his people and he would be their God.<\/p>\n
In contrast we see that the people who remained with Zedekiah were the bad useless rotten figs.\u00a0 God would leave them on their own (abandon them).\u00a0 Also included in this group are some who were in Egypt.\u00a0 When we studied Isaiah (a century earlier) we saw a constant desire by the leaders of Judah to look to Egypt for help.\u00a0 God\u2019s words to them through Isaiah were a constant warning to look to him not Egypt.\u00a0 It appears from verse 8 that some of the people of Judah refused to give up on Egypt as a refuge.\u00a0 They were not \u201cwhole heartedly\u201d (v. 7) trusting in God; Egypt would be their refuge.\u00a0 As we will see later that was a misplaced trust.<\/p>\n
In verses 9-10 God tells the people who were left behind that they would become a terror, an evil, a reproach, a proverb, a taunt, and a curse.\u00a0 All of these descriptions are of what the people around them would see and think when they looked at them.\u00a0 In theses verses we see that God is going to scatter them through out the whole earth.\u00a0 He would use faming and battles and disease to accomplish this.\u00a0 Notice that they would be a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the Earth<\/span>.\u00a0 They would be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places<\/span> .\u00a0 The word translated terror means \u201cto make shake or tremble\u201d, the word translated evil is the same word that describes the figs as rotten.\u00a0 It can also mean \u201cunpleasant or disagreeable\u201d, maybe think stinky or offensive.\u00a0 The word reproach means \u201cnot approved\u201d and a proverb is a wise saying.\u00a0 The word translated \u201ctaunt\u201d has the idea of sharpness, like a sharp stick uses to poke some one or something to keep them moving.\u00a0 The word curse has the idea of something that is passing away, quickly gone.\u00a0 This last word is just the opposite of how God described the people taken captive to Babylon; they were like permanent structures and well rooted plants.\u00a0 Where I live it was a common practice a few years ago to set wrecked cars near certain intersections around the time of certain holidays where people would drink a lot.\u00a0 The cars were wrecks from drunk driving accidents and based on how mangled the cars were you could tell that people had probably died in them.\u00a0 If Jeremiah had been describing those wrecks he might have said that they were a terror, evil, a reproach, a taunt, a proverb, and a curse.\u00a0 They were examples of what happens when you disregard the rules in life.\u00a0 We see that the main point here is the example these dreamers, disrespectful and disobedient to God, were going to be to the world around them.\u00a0 In verse 10 we see that they were not destroyed entirely but were completely removed from the land that had been promised to their ancestors.<\/p>\n Going our own way and not listening to God is destructive, in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.\u00a0 The first group shows us that God can and will help but there is often a price to pay.\u00a0 Those captives had to go live in a foreign land for many years (in the next chapter we will learn more about disobedience and the reason for the Babylonian Captivity).\u00a0 They could not go to their temple, had to start over, and much more.\u00a0 The second group shows us that sometimes our disobedience has permanent consequences.\u00a0 The people left behind will continue to show a rebellious attitude toward God.\u00a0 But there is hope too.\u00a0 From the book of Daniel we know that people in Babylon had a positive influence for God in on the people around them.\u00a0 We see even in the second group that their situation taught the people around them about God\u2019s purity and standards too.\u00a0 I like it that even when he is showing us his purity and high standards that God shows us his merciful side too.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad it\u2019s not \u201cone strike\u201d and you are out.\u00a0 I like it that God offers a way out and is constantly informing us of it.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad that God builds up and plants.<\/p>\n God help me be established and well rooted.\u00a0 Build me up and make me grow.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad that you are willing to correct, I know I need a lot of it.\u00a0 Help me learn your ways, hear your voice, know your truth.\u00a0 Let me listen to the truth and not lies.\u00a0 Let me look to your word for truth and not to the voice of my neighbors, or the voices in my own head.\u00a0 Help me hear and obey.\u00a0 Let my life be pleasing to you.\u00a0 And help me be a voice of truth for you to others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeremiah 24:1-10. In yesterday\u2019s reading God reminded the Israelites that he wasn\u2019t some local hick god but was the one true God who is overall, sees, all, and is yet right here watching each one of us.\u00a0 Prophets are supposed to be messengers for God but in the southern kingdom of Judah, near the end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1738,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737\/revisions\/1738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}