Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of my people.
Oh, that I had in the desert
a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people
and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,
a crowd of unfaithful people.
“They make ready their tongue
like a bow, to shoot lies;
it is not by truth
that they triumph in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
they do not acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.
“Beware of your friends;
do not trust anyone in your clan.
For every one of them is a deceiver,
and every friend a slanderer.
Friend deceives friend,
and no one speaks the truth.
They have taught their tongues to lie;
they weary themselves with sinning.
You live in the midst of deception;
in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.
Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:
“See, I will refine and test them,
for what else can I do
because of the sin of my people?
Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,
but in their hearts they set traps for them.
Should I not punish them for this?”
declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?”
I will weep and wail for the mountains
and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.
They are desolate and untraveled,
and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds have all fled
and the animals are gone.
“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
a haunt of jackals;
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah
so no one can live there.”
Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?
The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.”
This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come;
send for the most skillful of them.
Let them come quickly
and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
and water streams from our eyelids.
The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘How ruined we are!
How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
because our houses are in ruins.’”
Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord;
open your ears to the words of his mouth.
Teach your daughters how to wail;
teach one another a lament.
Death has climbed in through our windows
and has entered our fortresses;
it has removed the children from the streets
and the young men from the public squares.
Say, “This is what the Lord declares:
“‘Dead bodies will lie
like dung on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
with no one to gather them.’”
This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
- Jeremiah 9:1-26
Hear what the Lord says to you, people of Israel. This is what the Lord says:
“Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the heavens,
though the nations are terrified by them.
For the practices of the peoples are worthless;
they cut a tree out of the forest,
and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
They adorn it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so it will not totter.
Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
they can do no harm
nor can they do any good.”
No one is like you, Lord;
you are great,
and your name is mighty in power.
Who should not fear you,
King of the nations?
This is your due.
Among all the wise leaders of the nations
and in all their kingdoms,
there is no one like you.
They are all senseless and foolish;
they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish
and gold from Uphaz.
What the craftsman and goldsmith have made
is then dressed in blue and purple—
all made by skilled workers.
But the Lord is the true God;
he is the living God, the eternal King.
When he is angry, the earth trembles;
the nations cannot endure his wrath.
“Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’”
But God made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;
they have no breath in them.
They are worthless, the objects of mockery;
when their judgment comes, they will perish.
He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the Maker of all things,
including Israel, the people of his inheritance—
the Lord Almighty is his name.
Gather up your belongings to leave the land,
you who live under siege.
For this is what the Lord says:
“At this time I will hurl out
those who live in this land;
I will bring distress on them
so that they may be captured.”
Woe to me because of my injury!
My wound is incurable!
Yet I said to myself,
“This is my sickness, and I must endure it.”
My tent is destroyed;
all its ropes are snapped.
My children are gone from me and are no more;
no one is left now to pitch my tent
or to set up my shelter.
The shepherds are senseless
and do not inquire of the Lord;
so they do not prosper
and all their flock is scattered.
Listen! The report is coming—
a great commotion from the land of the north!
It will make the towns of Judah desolate,
a haunt of jackals.
Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;
it is not for them to direct their steps.
Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure—
not in your anger,
or you will reduce me to nothing.
Pour out your wrath on the nations
that do not acknowledge you,
on the peoples who do not call on your name.
For they have devoured Jacob;
they have devoured him completely
and destroyed his homeland.
- Jeremiah 10:1-25
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant—the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.”
I answered, “Amen, Lord.”
The Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them. From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.” But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.’”
Then the Lord said to me, “There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant I made with their ancestors. Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes. You, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’
“Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.
“What is my beloved doing in my temple
as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes?
Can consecrated meat avert your punishment?
When you engage in your wickedness,
then you rejoice.”
The Lord called you a thriving olive tree
with fruit beautiful in form.
But with the roar of a mighty storm
he will set it on fire,
and its branches will be broken.
The Lord Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the people of both Israel and Judah have done evil and aroused my anger by burning incense to Baal.
Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree and its fruit;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more.”
But you, Lord Almighty, who judge righteously
and test the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance on them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
Therefore this is what the Lord says about the people of Anathoth who are threatening to kill you, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord or you will die by our hands”—therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”
- Jeremiah 11:1-23
Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments
Jeremiah 7:1-10:25 ‘Outside Truth, everything is false’: ”God … commanded Jeremiah to go up to the temple and proclaim His message to the hypocritical people gathered there. In this courageous sermon, the prophet exposed the nation’s false hope (Jer. 7:1—8:3), their false prophets (8:4—22), their false confidence in the covenant they were disobeying (9: 1—26), and the false gods they were worshipping (10:1-25). In other words, Jeremiah dealt with their sinful mistreatment of the temple, the law, the covenant, and the Lord Himself. It wasn’t a popular message to deliver, and it almost cost him his life!”
- Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive
Jeremiah 9:1-26 ‘Idolatry in their hearts’: ”Before Abraham trusted in the true God, he had been a worshipper of idols (Josh. 24:2-3). During their years in Egypt, the Jews were exposed to the gross idolatry of that land, and some of it stayed in their hearts. While Moses was meeting with God on Mount Sinai, the people, aided by Moses’ brother Aaron, made a golden calf and worshipped it (Ex. 32). At Sinai, they had seen the glory of God, heard the voice of God, and accepted the law of God; yet ‘they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass’ (Ps. 106:20 NKJV). Idolatry was in their hearts.”
- Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive
Jeremiah 9:1 ‘Reflections’: “It requires great care and a true knowledge of ourselves to distinguish a spiritual burden from religious irritation. We cannot close our minds to everything that is happening around us. We dare not rest at ease in Zion when the Church is so desperately in need of spiritually sensitive men and women who can see her faults and try to call her back to the path of righteousness. The prophets and apostles of Bible times carried in their hearts such crushing burdens for God’s wayward people that they could say, ‘Tears have been my meat day and night’ (Psalm 42:3), and ‘Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!’ (Jeremiah 9:1). These men were heavy with a true burden. What they felt was not vexation but acute concern for the honor of God and the souls of men.”
- A. W. Tozer, Man, the Dwelling Place of God
Jeremiah 9:1 ‘dying and perishing souls’: “This is how God’s servants feel about the dying and perishing souls all around them. They cannot bear the thought of the sinner‘s awful doom; it brings continuous heartbreak and heaviness of spirit to them. In Hebrew the same word signifies ‘eye’ and ‘fountain,’ as if God had as much given us eyes to weep with as to see with, as if there were as much cause to sorrow over sin as to look out on the taught their tongues to speak beauties of the world.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 9:3 ‘evil shoots out lies’: “They made use of the tongue as if it were a bow to shoot out lies. It is a graphic description. ‘They proceed from one evil to another.’ It is the way of the wicked to ripen into greater sin.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 9:4-6 ‘a deceiver deceives’: “Jacob’s name was ‘deceiver,’ and all these were Jacobs, each one ready to deceive his brother, to throw him on one side that he might their critical ingenuity to get occupy his place. ‘They have lies.’ Their tongues spoke lies without any teaching, but they schooled them till they were masters of the art of lying. ‘They wear themselves out doing wrong.’ They had committed so much evil that they even tired themselves in the doing of it. ‘ln their deception they refuse to know me.’ They put forth all rid of God, doing all they could so they might not know God.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 9:10 ‘scorched earth strategy to subjugate’: “The prophet pictures what the Chaldeans would do. They would not only destroy the cities, but they would even rob the hills of their cattle and sweep the fields till there would be nothing left that could be gathered.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 9:12 ‘desolation as punishment’: “The land would never have been desolate if it had not been for the wickedness of the people. It is sin that does the mischief.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 9:15 ‘wormwood’: “The Lord pictured the awful suffering of the judgment as wormwood, which had very bitter leaves. Their food would be bitterness, and their water as foul as gall, a poisonous herb.”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Jeremiah 9:19 ‘sinners whine about the punishment without thinking of the sin’: “Why did they not say, ‘How we have sinned’? No, people will think of the punishment they suffer, but they will overlook the sin they commit. ‘We have abandoned the land.’ Why did not they say, ‘Because we have forsaken the Lord, because we have cast off the worship of the Lord’? People mourn over the result of sin, but to the sin itself they still cling.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 9:21-22 ‘The cruelty of those who would subjugate the people of Judah’: “Generally, in war they spare the children, and they carry the young men away as captives. The Chaldeans were cruel; they killed the little ones and they slew the young men. ‘Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field.’ So dreadful was the devastation that was worked by the Chaldeans that dead bodies lay like heaps of dung farmers spread on the fields.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 9:24 ‘chose unwisely’: “God would have made them wealthier than the wealthy, wiser than the wise, and stronger than the strongest; but they would not have the things in which he delighted.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 9:26 ‘mixing with pagan cultures led to curses’: “Judah is sandwiched between Egypt and Edom. Those who were the people of God are put in the same category with the accursed nations because they had forsaken the Lord and become mixed up with them.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 10 ‘Josiah’s reformation’: ”In his poem ‘The Need of the Hour,’ the American poet Edwin Markham wrote, ‘We need the Faith to go a path untrod, / The power to be alone and vote with God.’ That’s what Jeremiah was doing during the reign of King Josiah—he was walking alone and voting with God. King Josiah was excited when the workmen repairing the temple found the book of the law (2 Kings 22), and this discovery led to a movement that temporarily cleansed the kingdom of idolatry (2 Kings 25). This event is commonly called ‘Josiah’s revival,’ but ‘reformation’ might be a more accurate word. Why? Because the people obeyed the law only outwardly; in their hearts they still held on to their idols.
“Because Jeremiah understood this and knew the shallowness of the unrepentant human heart, he wasn’t too vocal during Josiah’s reformation. He knew what the people were doing in secret and that they would return to their sins at the first opportunity. In this section of his prophecy, Jeremiah recorded the sins of the nation and pleaded with the people to return to the Lord while there was yet time.”
- Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive
Jeremiah 10:1-2 ‘superstitions’: “Among the heathen, if certain stars were in conjunction, it was considered unlucky. And certain days of the week were also regarded as unlucky. A great many foolish superstitions are floating about this silly world, but Christian people should never allow such follies to have any influence on them.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 10:3-5 ‘scorn on idol making’: “God’s ancient prophets seemed to take delight in heaping scorn on the idol-making of the heathen.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 10:7 ‘King’: “God, who sovereignly created and controls all things (cf. vv. 12, 16; Deut. 4:35), is the eternal, living God (cf. Pss. 47; 145), who alone is worthy of trust. By contrast, earthly idols have to be fashioned by humans (v. 9), and will perish (v. 15).”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Jeremiah 10:14 ‘idolaters are mentally weak’: “Every idolater proves that he knows no more than a brute beast when he worships a piece of wood or a stone.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 10:16 ‘Jacob’s Portion’: “What a blessed name that is for God! And the other side of the truth is equally blessed—’Israel is the tribe of his inheritance.’ God belongs to his people, and they belong to him. If we can but realize that these blessings are ours, we are building on the solid foundation.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 10:17-18 ‘flinging away Judah’: “The Babylonians were coming against Judah. No hope oi deliverance was held out to Judah; they were told to pack up their little bundles, to put their small goods together, for they had to go away into a far distant country as captives of the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar. God compares their captivity to the forcible ejection of stones from a sling—’I am flinging away the land’s residents at this time.’ ”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 10:19 ‘bearing the trials’: “We children of God also must learn to say that. Some trials and troubles come on us against which we may not tight, but we must say, ‘l must bear it.’ ”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 10:20 ‘the faithful fail’: “Israel was like a tent removed with none to set her up again. Some churches in the present day are in this sad condition—-the faithful fail from among them; there are no new converts and no earnest spirit.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 10:23 ‘the way … is not in himself’: “Man is incapable of guiding his own life adequately. This prayer shifts to his need of God (Prov. 3:5, 6; 16:9), who had a plan for Jeremiah before he was even born (1:5).”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Jeremiah 10:24 ‘discipline not in anger’: “What a suitable prayer this is for a sick person, for a tried believer, for the child of God in deep despondency of soul. I scarcely know any better words that any of us could use. The suppliant does not ask to go undisciplined but only that God discipline him ‘not in your anger.’ ”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 10:25 ‘Jeremiah’s Prayer’: “Instead of smiting his own children, Jeremiah asks God to smite his enemies. And knowing what we know about the Babylonians, we do not wonder that Jeremiah prayed such a prayer as this.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Jeremiah 11 ‘a twofold conspiracy’: ”The Lord revealed to His servant a twofold conspiracy in the land: a conspiracy of the men of Judah to disobey the covenant and resist the reforms led by King Josiah (Jer. 11:9-17), and a conspiracy of the people in Jeremiah’s hometown to kill the prophet and silence God’s Word (11:18-12:6). Both led to a third crisis that threatened Jeremiah’s own faith in the Lord.”
- Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive
Jeremiah 11:2 ‘this covenant’: “The reference is to God’s covenant, summarized in verses 3-5, which promised curses for disobeying and blessings for obeying (cf. Deut. 27:26-28:68).”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics
Jeremiah 11:4 ‘the iron furnace’: “A metaphor for the hardship of Egyptian bondage, hundreds of years earlier (cf. Ex. 1:8-14).”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Jeremiah 11:9 ‘A conspiracy’: “This refers to a deliberate resisting of God’s appeals for repentance and an insistence upon trusting their own ‘peace’ message and idols.”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics
Jeremiah 11:14 ‘do not pray’: “Cf. 7:16; see note there. Their own prayers, as long as they rejected God, could not gain the answer they desired (v. 11; Ps. 66:18), and the same was true of another’s prayers for them.”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Jeremiah 11:15 ‘My beloved’: “A phrase showing God’s sensitive regard for His relationship to Israel as a nation (cf. 2:2; 12:7). It does not carry the assumption, however, that every individual is spiritually saved (cf. 5:10a). lewd deeds. Shameful idolatry that defiled all that befits true temple worship, such as the examples in Ezekiel 8:6-13. These were gross violations of the first three commandments (cf. Ex. 20:2-7). holy flesh. In some way, they corrupted the animal sacrifices by committing sin which they enjoyed (cf. 7: 10).”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Jeremiah 11:16-17 ‘Green Olive Tree’: “Israel was pictured as a grapevine (2:21), then an olive tree meant to bear good fruit. However, they produced fruit that calls only for the fire of judgment (as 5:10).”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
My Thoughts
The beginning of Jeremiah 9 is a continuation of Jeremiah 8 where God says to Jeremiah “Tell them this is what the Lord says.” So, when God says in first person that His eyes cry rivers of tears because His chosen people disobey him, He means it.
I recently had a revelation in that someone who had shown tremendous disrespect for my wife pretended that I was not present, and they were blameless. There was no act of repentance, no thought of their wrong, and they started demanding, not of me for I did not exist, but of the mourners around me.
I wept buckets of tears. And as I mourned, not for my wife, but for their souls, it dawned on me that God mourns for each who is lost. Yet, He is Holy. Without the redeeming blood of Jesus, God cannot abide by those in rebellion.
My wife had it right. They do not wish to communicate, but they cannot stop my prayers.
And that is how God starts Jeremiah 9.
God speaks of how everything revolves around deceit. Part of the deceit of this world is that everything is subjective and each person has their own truth. But think just for a moment about that. It means that everyone except precious you is lying to you. You can trust nothing, unless… Unless the basic principle of subjective truth is the lie.
Then, he speaks of calling upon the wailing women. Maybe in those days they had people assigned to that task of weeping for others. In modern India, they have eunuchs who are called upon to weep at weddings and funerals and if they can sing, to do so at these events. This task was probably assigned to women in the days of Jeremiah, since he mentions to call upon the wailing women.
God condemns the worshippers of idols and the makers of idols and those who profit in between. That is the overall sin that is discussed here, but the true underlying sin is that they ignore God, God’s sovereignty, God’s power, and God’s love.
Then when God punishes us, or God allows the inherent punishment built into many of life’s sins, we wail in anguish over the punishment without considering what we did to be punished. I have known children like that. They were imbittered by the punishment, thinking what they did was no big deal. When the biggest deal of all is not obeying. Through some tricky questions, someone dear to me said to a third party, “The word ‘behave’ means when an adult tells you to do something, you do NOT do it.” His parents, now armed with this child’s misconception of behaving, have a hard road ahead, but they know at least part of the problem.
God also attacks the idols themselves. They cannot walk, talk, nor can they do anyone any good. But the Creator of all things is ignored.
Just painting this picture, most of us in the world would have hit the reset button long ago, but God is patient. God shows mercy. And God also gives us enough rope that if we are determined to do so, we will have enough to hang ourselves.
But Jeremiah 10 ends with a plea that God needs to punish His people, but please do not do so in anger.
I have written about it often. I would come home from work. I would have preferred my wife to punish the children, but she told them the old tale, “Wait until your Dad gets home.” This made me the vengeful parent, while she stayed the loving parent. Upset that the boys had been bad was part of it. Upset that she did not handle it herself was another part of it. But I determined why they needed punishment. I talked to them about it. And then I let them stew for a little while. I never wanted to punish them while I was angry. Jeremiah 10:24 was one of the verses that I called upon. But they knew that I would return to the room, and they would not enjoy what was coming, treating each boy differently based on their likes and dislikes.
Jeremiah 11 starts with the charge that the sons of Jacob had disobeyed and broken God’s covenant. God promised them that they would never have illness if they obeyed His commandments. Just think! No doctors, no doctor bills, no medical insurance problems. Just obey God’s commands, but the people of Jacob wasted no time in creating false gods and ignoring the true God.
Simply said, God said, “Obey me.”
But then there was a conspiracy, two conspiracies. One was to figure out a way to worship false gods all the more and if we can kill Jeremiah, then there will be no one left to tell us we are wrong. But the people who plotted his death were cursed, those people of Anathoth.
Some Serendipitous Reflections
“Jeremiah 9: 1. What kinds of things do people today ‘boast’ or take pride in? What do you tend to boast about? Where lies human value?
“2. What has been a great sadness in your life? Would it feel good to have someone ‘wail’ with you about it? How do people respond to your feelings of loss or sorrow? How has God treated you?
“3. Even in circumcision, Judah had become like the surrounding countries. ln what ways is the Church today indistinguishable from the society it is in? In what ways is the Church distinct from any other social group?
“4. Do you make friends easily, or are you a loner? Did betrayal by a friend or sibling make it hard for you to trust? How do you protect yourself from being hurt by people important to you?
“Jeremiah 10:1-16 God and Idols 1. Jeremiah 10 has been used to condemn the tradition of making Christmas trees. Using this passage, can you support that idea? How do you know Jeremiah is talking about something else?
“2. Idolatry has always been big business. Can you think of any modern industries that depend upon our homage? To what images must we bow in order to participate in the social and economic system around us?
“3. What kinds of things do people idolize today—things that they are counting on to speak to them, carry them ordo good for them, as only God can?
“4. How much time do you take to meditate on God’s creation and power? What aspect of nature speaks most clearly to you of God’s power?
“5. In what sense might verse 5 apply to you: ls there anything you fear that you need not? Does your work or your purchases ‘do good’ for others? Is there a better way you could spend your prime waking hours and disposable income?
“Jeremiah 10:17-25 Closing Destruction: 1. ln what circumstances might God allow his people to endure an illness or injury that is curable or preventable?
“2. Have you ever met a refugee? How would you feel if your home was destroyed and your country at war? Perhaps your group can visit a shelter for refugees, detainees or the homeless.
“3. Which would you rather receive: God’s justice or anger? What determines who gets what?
“4. Do you believe the fate of your country depends on whether the political leaders look to God for guidance? Why or why not?
“Jeremiah 11:1-17 The Covenant is Broken: 1. is it ever too late with God? When might God’s patience run out for you? For your country? The world?
“2. Does your group have a covenant with God? The members with each other? What promises need to be restated in the group?
“3. Who do you think raises the voice of reform today? Are you listening? What is being asked of you and the church?
“Jeremiah 11:18-22 Plot against Jeremiah: 1. Jesus also had a ‘bad homecoming’ (see Mt 13:53-58). Has obeying God ever alienated those closest to you? What happened?
“2. Are you comfortable in seeking God’s vengeance? What would you request if you were Jeremiah?”
- Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups
Jeremiah 9 has one set of questions. Jeremiah 10-11 are each divided into two sets of questions as noted above.
Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.
If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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