Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the skilled workers and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord. One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
Then the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
“Figs,” I answered. “The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.”
Then the word of the Lord came to me: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
“‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the Lord, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse and an object of ridicule, wherever I banish them. I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.’”

• Jeremiah 24:1-10

To read Jeremiah 25:1-38, click this link HERE.

To read Jeremiah 26:1-24, click this link HERE.

Early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: This is what the Lord said to me: “Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck. Then send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Give them a message for their masters and say, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Tell this to your masters: With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will give all your countries into the hands of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.
“‘“If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the Lord, until I destroy it by his hand. So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ They prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish. But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the Lord.”’”
I gave the same message to Zedekiah king of Judah. I said, “Bow your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and you will live. Why will you and your people die by the sword, famine and plague with which the Lord has threatened any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying lies to you. ‘I have not sent them,’ declares the Lord. ‘They are prophesying lies in my name. Therefore, I will banish you and you will perish, both you and the prophets who prophesy to you.’”
Then I said to the priests and all these people, “This is what the Lord says: Do not listen to the prophets who say, ‘Very soon now the articles from the Lord’s house will be brought back from Babylon.’ They are prophesying lies to you. Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this city become a ruin? If they are prophets and have the word of the Lord, let them plead with the Lord Almighty that the articles remaining in the house of the Lord and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem not be taken to Babylon. For this is what the Lord Almighty says about the pillars, the bronze Sea, the movable stands and the other articles that are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the things that are left in the house of the Lord and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem: ‘They will be taken to Babylon and there they will remain until the day I come for them,’ declares the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’”

• Jeremiah 27:1-22

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Jeremiah 24:1-10 ‘rotten figs’: ”In 597 BC, the Babylonians deported King Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah or Coniah) along with many of the nobles and key citizens, leaving only the poorer people to work the land (2 Kings 24:14-16). It was the beginning of the end for Judah, and no doubt Jeremiah was greatly distressed.
“Knowing that His servant needed encouragement, the Lord gave him a vision of two baskets of figs sitting before the temple of the Lord. One basket held very good figs, the kind that ripened early in the season, and the other basket contained rotten figs, which nobody could eat. Then the Lord explained that the good figs represented the exiles who had just been taken to Babylon, while the bad figs represented King Zedekiah and his officials as well as the survivors who remained in the land or who had fled to Egypt.
“What do you do with rotten figs? You reject them and throw them away! What do you do with tasty, good figs? You preserve them and enjoy them! God promised to care for the exiles, work in their hearts, and one day bring them back to their land. Jeremiah even wrote a letter to the exiles, telling them to live peaceably in the land and seek the Lord with all their hearts (Jer. 29:1-14). There was no future for King Zedekiah, who had succeeded Jehoiachin, or for the nobles that gave him such foolish counsel, but there was a future for a godly remnant that would seek the Lord with all their hearts.”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 24:1 ‘after Nebuchadnezzar … carried away’: “This refers to Babylon’s second deportation of Judeans in 597 B.C. (cf. 2 Kin. 24:10-17).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 24:5 ‘Like these good figs’: “The object lesson of verse 2 is explained. Deported Judeans, captive in Babylon, will have good treatment, not death as shown in 29:5-7, 10. They will be granted privileges as colonists, rather than being enslaved as captives.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics

Jeremiah 24:8-10 ‘as the bad figs’: “Those people remaining at Jerusalem during the eleven years (597—586 B.C.) of Zedekiah’s vassal reign would soon face hardship from further scattering to other countries, violent death, famine, and disease; cf. Jeremiah 29:17. Cf. 25:9 and see note there. These verses quote the curses of Deuteronomy 28:25, 37 (cf. 29:18, 22; Ps. 44:13, 14) and are also fulfilled in the history of the long dispersion until Messiah returns.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 25:1 ‘fourth year’: “The date is 605/04 B.C., as Jehoiakim reigned during 609-598 B.C. first year. Nebuchadnezzar reigned during 605-562 B.C.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 25:3 ‘halfway through ministry’: ”Jeremiah had been serving for twenty-three years when he delivered the messages recorded in chapters 25 and 26 (25:3; 26:1). He was called into prophetic service in the year 626 BC (1:2) and continued to minister after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, a period of over forty years. He was now at the midpoint of his career. When you consider the unsympathetic response of the people both to him and to his messages, you marvel that Jeremiah wasn’t discouraged and ready to quit, but he continued to be faithful to his calling.”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 25:3 ‘thirteenth year’: “The time is c. 627/626 B.C. Josiah ruled in 640-609 B.C. twenty-third year. Jeremiah began his ministry in the thirteenth year of Josiah (cf. 1:2) and had been faithful to preach repentance and judgment for twenty-three years (c. 605/604 B.C.).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics

Jeremiah 25:11 ‘seventy years’: “Here is the first specific statement on the length of the Exile (cf. 29:10). This period probably began in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Jerusalem was first captured and the temple treasures were taken. It ends with the decree of Cyrus to let the Jews return, spanning from c. 605/04 B.C. to 536/35 B.C. The exact number of Sabbath years is 490 years, the period from Saul to the Babylonian captivity. This was retribution for their violation of the Sabbath law (cf. Lev. 26:34, 35; 2 Chr. 36:21).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 25:17 ‘made all nations drink’: “Obviously Jeremiah could not visit all the places listed from verses 18-26, but in this vision he acted as if representatives from all those nations were present so he could make them drink in the message of wrath (v. 27), and understand there was no escape (vv. 28, 29).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 26 ‘powerful sermons in the temple’: ”Chapter 26 of Jeremiah should be studied in connection with chapter 7, because they both deal with Jeremiah’s courageous sermon given in the temple. The sermon is summarized in verses 3-7, and you will note the emphasis on hearing the word of God (See 25:3-8). Jeremiah preached exactly what God commanded him to preach and didn’t alter the message in order to please the people. The false prophets preached what the people wanted to hear, but Jeremiah preached what the people needed to hear. ‘Whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak’ (1:7).
“The people in the temple, however, encouraged by the priests and false prophets, rejected Jeremiah’s message and treated him like a false prophet who deserved to die. To them, it was blasphemous for Jeremiah to declare that Jehovah would allow the Holy City and His holy temple to fall into the defiling and destructive hands of the heathen the way the ark at Shiloh fell into the hands of the Philistines (1 Sam. 4). Since God’s Covenant with David protected the city and the temple, Jeremiah was actually denying the covenant! He was leading the people astray and deserved to die (Deut. 18:20).”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 26:12 ‘Jeremiah spoke’: “Leaders and people threatened to kill him (v. 8). The prophet defended himself while in extreme danger. He did not compromise, but displayed great spiritual courage. He was ready to die (v. 14), yet warned the crowd that God would hold the guilty accountable (v. 15).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 26:17-19 ‘elders … spoke’: “These spokesmen cited the prophet Micah (cf. Mic. 3:12), who before and during Hezekiah’s reign (c. 715-686 B.C.) prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. They reasoned that because they didn’t kill Micah, God rescinded the judgment. They must not kill Jeremiah so God might change His mind. Micah’s prophecy and Jeremiah’s would come true in time.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 26:20-21 ‘also a man … prophesied’: “Urijah, like Micah and Jeremiah, had warned of doom on Jerusalem, speaking in Jehoiakim’s day only a bit earlier than Jeremiah’s present warning (609 B.C.). He was executed. The decision could have gone either way, since there was precedent for killing and for sparing.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 27:1-14 ‘yoke of submission’: ”Once again, Jeremiah had to use an ‘action sermon’ to get the attention of the people, and he did it at a time when Zedekiah was conferring with representatives from five neighboring nations. These nations were allies of Judah, and together they were planning a strategy for dealing with Nebuchadnezzar.
“A yoke speaks of submission, and that’s the message Jeremiah was trying to get across. First, Jeremiah sent the message to the envoys of the nations (Jer. 27:1-11). What these politicians needed was not clever strategy but submission to Babylon. When Jeremiah was asked why he was wearing a yoke, he gave them the message from God: Judah and the other nations must submit to Nebuchadnezzar or else be destroyed. God had given the nations to the king of Babylon, and those nations who rebelled against him were rebelling against God (vv. 7-8, 11-12). He sent this message to the envoys gathered in Jerusalem, who certainly had heard about this peculiar Jewish man who was walking around wearing a yoke (see 28:10).”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 27:1 ‘reign of Jehoiakim’: “This may refer to Jehoiakim around 609/608 B.C. (as ch. 26). Or possibly, the correct reading is Zedekiah, as in verses 3, 12 and 28:1, which would put the date at the outset of his 597-586 B.C. reign.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 27:2 ‘Make … bands and yokes’: “This object lesson symbolized bondage to Babylon. The yoke was placed on Jeremiah’s neck to picture Judah’s captivity (v. 12), then sent to six kings of nearby nations who would also be under Babylon’s power (v. 3). Cf. Jeremiah 28:10-12.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 27:8 ‘yoke of … Babylon’: “The point of the object lesson is simple. Any nation that will serve Babylon willingly may stay in their own land, but nations that will not submit voluntarily to Babylon will suffer destruction. Consequently, Judah should submit and not be removed from the land (vv. 9-18).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 27:12-15 ‘serve Babylon and live’: ”Jeremiah then gave the same message to King Zedekiah (Jer. 27:12-15). Since the king had rebelled against Babylon and refused to pay tribute, he was now in serious trouble. When the king saw Jeremiah wearing the yoke, he surely must have gotten the message: ‘Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live’ (v. 12). Jeremiah warned the king not to listen to the deceptive messages of the false prophets, because they were speaking only lies in the name of the Lord.”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 27:16-22 ‘Jeremiah vs. Hananiah’: ”Jeremiah then delivered the ‘yoke’ message to the priests and the people (Jer. 27:16-22). The false prophets were claiming that the valuable articles of gold and bronze that the Babylonians had taken from the temple would soon be returned to Jerusalem, but Jeremiah knew this was a lie. Actually, these treasures weren’t brought back until God visited the Jews and the remnant returned to Judah after the decree of Cyrus (Ezra 1—2). The important thing wasn’t to rescue the temple furnishings but to save the people from death and the city from destruction. This could be done only if the nation submitted to the king of Babylon.
“Jeremiah ended his message to the priests and people with a promise of hope: At the end of their captivity, God would visit His people in Babylon and bring them back to their land. Even in wrath, God remembers mercy (Hab. 3:2).
“While Jeremiah was wearing the yoke and calling the nation to submit to Babylon, Hananiah, one of the false prophets, confronted him in the temple. About this same time, according to historians, Nebuchadnezzar was putting down a revolt in his own land. Hananiah wrongly interpreted the uprising as the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule. Hananiah announced that God had broken the yoke of the king of Babylon and that the temple treasures would be returned to Jerusalem within two years. More than that, King Jeconiah and all the exiles would be returned with them. These messages contradicted what Jeremiah had spoken in the name of the Lord. The Lord had told Jeremiah that the deported people and the temple vessels wouldn’t be restored to the land until He visited the exiles at the end of their captivity (Jer. 27:16-22). Furthermore, King Jeconiah would never return to Judah but would die in Babylon (22:24-27; 52:31-54).”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 27:21-22 ‘vessels’: “Jeremiah revealed that Judah’s temple vessels taken to Babylon (cf. 2 Kin. 24:13; Dan. 1:1, 2) would be restored to the temple. Fulfillment around 536 B.C. was spoken of in Ezra 5:13-15. About 516/515 B.C. these articles were placed in the rebuilt temple (Ezra 6:15).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

 

My Thoughts

Only two of the reference Bibles and Commentaries that I have been using had anything on these chapters.  These are hard lessons.

In Jeremiah 24, we see a simple analogy.  Good figs and bad figs are presented to Jeremiah.  The good figs represent those among the exiles that keep God in their hearts.  They will be returned.  God will see that they are protected.  But the bad figs represent Zedekiah and his house who reign in Judah, whether they stay or go to Egypt.  God is not in their hearts.  They are like figs, so rotten that they cannot be eaten.  It is more a heart condition than following rules or performing ceremonies.

In Jeremiah 25, God tells Jeremiah a couple of times that God hates what their hands have made.  You do not simply find a carved stone or piece of wood that is shaped like a false god.  Of course, you can find a crunchie cheese pastry that might accidentally look like Abraham Lincoln, but God is reminded Jeremiah of what Aaron had said when Moses came down from the mountain and saw the people worshiping a golden calf.  Aaron said that they made a fire and then suddenly the calf jumped out of the fire.  God is placing even more condemnation on the people.  They did not simply stumble over something that God had created and worship that instead of God.  They was malice aforethought, to borrow a judicial term.  They planned.  They schemed.  And they made the false god with their own hands.  He will make their lands desolate.  They will serve Babylon for seventy years.

Then God presents Jeremiah with a cup and instructs all the nations on earth to drink of God’s Wrath.  If any refused to drink, it changes nothing; they will be destroyed.  Then God says that even Sheshak will drink of it.  Sheshak never appears on any map, and the name only in the book of Jeremiah.  Sheshak is believed to mean Babel or Babylon.  Thus, God is saying that whoever the great power of the time is, the one no one can defeat, they will drink of God’s wrath, even as God is using them to carry out His wrath on the other nations.  We see this when Babylon is destroyed, when the empire of the Medes and Persians is destroyed, then the Greeks, and the Romans (as prophesied by Daniel).

But then, in vain hope, or God giving them one more chance to listen, he sent Jeremiah to plead once again.  Jeremiah said that Jerusalem will be like Shiloh, once the location of the tabernacle, then destroyed.  The people in the temple seized Jeremiah and ordered him to be put to death.  Then cooler heads mention that Micah (the prophet of the book in the Bible) said the same thing to Hezekiah and was not put to death.  Yet, then in a parenthetical section, they speak of a prophet named Uriah who was ordered to be put to death.  Uriah escaped to Egypt, but the king sent envoys to search and capture Uriah.  Upon return, he was put to death.

This concept of trying to put Jeremiah to death stems from a concept of treason, making the soldiers fear they are fighting a lost cause and having them surrender.  If the message had not been from Almighty God, this might have been the motivation, but cooler heads prevailed and they let Jeremiah go free.

In Jeremiah 27, Jeremiah returns with another object lesson, wearing a yoke.  His message was simple, if you put on the yoke of Babylon and serve King Nebuchadnezzar, you will remain in your land and live.  If you refuse to bow to Nebuchadnezzar, you will be destroyed.  This prophecy was meant for all nations in the known world.  God, through Jeremiah, went on to say that if a prophet ever speaks of not serving Babylon, that prophet is a liar.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

“Jeremiah 24: 1. if you lived in Jeremiah’s day, would you prefer exile in Babylon, or life in your homeland? Why?
“2. Are you at ease with things as they are in your native country under its present leaders, or do you feel ‘in exile’, waiting fora return to things as they should be? How ‘at home’ should the Church be in this world?
“3. What looks like harsh punishment can turn out for our good (see Jas 1:2-3). When has that happened for you?
“Jeremiah 25:1-14 Seventy Year of Captivity 1. Why did God warn the people for so long before taking action? Why did God’s patience finally run out?
“2. How long would you persist in a task without seeing any success? Do you ever wonder about a direction you once took but abandoned?
“3. ls God warning you about anything? Are you paying more attention than Judah did? How so?
“Jeremiah 25:16-22 The Cup of God’s Wrath 1. If you were compiling a list of nations to punish, which ones would top the list? Why? Who would not have to ‘drink the cup’?
“2. ls God’s treatment of Judah and the nations fair? How will God in Christ judge the world (see Mt 25:31-46; Ro 2:6-16)?
“3. How does it feel to know God is hardest on his own people (see 1Pe 4:17-18)? Why is that so?
“4. Does the fact that God will someday avenge every evil deed and punish all evildoers comfort you, or scare you? Why?
“Jeremiah 26: 1. Why does God seem so indifferent to the earthly fate of his servants (see Heb 11:32-38)? Does God oppose torture, death and unjust imprisonment? Should we?
“2. Why do you think Jeremiah was so calm facing death? Does the fear of the Lord make you immune to the fear of men? Should it?
“3.What do you fear the most? How can you overcome it?
“4. Are you at ease taking sides in a debate before all the votes are in‘? Or do you usually hedge your bets by waiting to see how things will pan out? Give an example.
“5. When was the last time you stuck up for someone unpopular? Why did you do it? How were you treated?
“6. How might the principle of interpretation evident in Jeremiah 26:16-19 (and Ac 5:34-40) be used today in deciding who speaks for God?
“Jeremiah 27: 1. Ancient cultures thought of the world as run by many gods, each exercising power over a certain territory. In your world, how is God’s sphere of influence limited? Do you look to God to reign over certain areas of yours but not others? Explain.
“2. When have you experienced the tight-or-flight dilemma faced by Judah in this chapter? When do you know when to fight and when to surrender?
“3. Do you think nations today can avoid war by obeying God’? Why or why not? What kind of national behavior leads to God’s blessing? What can you do to promote it?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Jeremiah 24, 26, and 27 each have one set of questions for each chapter.  Jeremiah 25 is 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.