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Scripture Reading: Jer. 34; Jer. 35; Jer. 36; Jer. 45
In this message we will begin to consider Israel's stubbornness in their sinning against Jehovah and Jeremiah's firmness in his speaking for Jehovah.
While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon with all his army was fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities, Jeremiah was sent by Jehovah to speak to Zedekiah king of Judah (34:1, 6-7). Jeremiah was to tell Zedekiah that Jehovah was giving Jerusalem into Nebuchadnezzar's hand to be burned with fire and that Zedekiah would not escape from his hand. Rather, Zedekiah would surely be captured and given into Nebuchadnezzar's hand, but he would die in peace (vv. 2-5).
Jeremiah 34:8-22 describes Zedekiah's dishonesty in keeping God's commandment and Jehovah's punishment. King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to set free their servants, but afterward they turned around and brought their servants back into subjection. Then Jehovah spoke through Jeremiah that because they profaned His name when they turned and took back the servants, not listening to Him, transgressing His covenant, and not establishing the words of the covenant they had made before Him, He was proclaiming liberty to them to sword, to pestilence, and to famine. He would make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, giving them — the princes, the eunuches, the priests, and all the people — into the hand of their enemies who sought their life, and their corpses would be food for the birds and the beasts. Jehovah would also give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies who sought their life and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, which had withdrawn from them and would be brought back by Him to fight against Jerusalem, capture it, and burn it with fire. Moreover, Jehovah would make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
Chapter thirty-five gives the example of the Rechabites. In the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, Jehovah asked Jeremiah to invite the house of the Rechabites to the house of Jehovah to drink wine. However, they would not drink it, because their father Jonadab the son of Rechab had commanded them not to drink wine nor to build a house, nor to sow seed, nor to plant a vineyard, but to dwell in tents all their days.
Then Jehovah sent Jeremiah to tell the inhabitants of Jerusalem that the Rechabites obeyed the command of their father, but the inhabitants of Jerusalem had not listened to Him. Therefore, Jehovah, the God of Israel, was bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil which He had spoken against them. However, Jeremiah said to the Rechabites, "Because you have listened to the commandment of Jonadab your father and have kept all his commandments and have done according to all that he commanded you; therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab the son of Rechab will never lack a man to stand before Me forever" (vv. 18-19).
Chapter thirty-six continues with Jehoiakim's stubbornness in burning Jeremiah's book of prophecy, and Jehovah's punishment. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, Jehovah asked Jeremiah to write on a scroll book all the words which He had spoken to Jeremiah concerning Israel, concerning Judah, and concerning all the nations from the day He spoke to him, from the days of Josiah even to that day. Then Jeremiah asked Baruch the son of Neriah to write from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Jehovah, which He had spoken to him, on a scroll book (vv. 1-4).
The word of Jehovah came to Baruch through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You said, Woe is me! For Jehovah has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning and have not found rest" (45:3). Then Jehovah said further, "Behold, what I have built I am about to tear down; and what I have planted I am about to pluck up, even this whole land. And are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I am bringing evil upon all flesh, declares Jehovah, but I will give your own life to you as spoil in all places where you may go" (vv. 4-5). Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch to read the scroll to the people in the house of Jehovah on the day of fasting and to all the people of Judah who came from their cities. Baruch did accordingly (36:6-8).
In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, in the fast proclaimed before Jehovah, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah in the book in the house of Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah. A leader among them, after hearing the word, went down to the king's house and told the princes there what he had heard in that book. Then the princes sent someone to Baruch to ask him to come to them with the scroll in his hand and read it to them. After hearing all the words in it, they turned in fear one to another and told Baruch that they had to report all those words to the king. They asked Baruch and Jeremiah to hide themselves and to let no one know where they were (vv. 9-19).
The princes went to the king in the court, and the scroll was read to the king and to all the princes who stood by him. As the scroll was being read, the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, and the fire of the brazier was burning before him. After listening to three or four columns, the king would cut it with a scribe's knife and throw the pieces into the brazier, until the whole scroll was consumed in the fire (vv. 20-23). The king and all his servants who heard all these words were not afraid and did not rend their garments. Rather, the king commanded his son and others to seize Baruch and Jeremiah, but Jehovah hid them (vv. 24-26).
Then, after the king had burned the scroll, Jehovah told Jeremiah to take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned (vv. 27-28). Concerning Jehoiakim, Jeremiah was commanded to say, "Thus says Jehovah, You have burned this scroll, saying, Why have you written in it, saying, The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and will cause man and beast to cease from it?" (v. 29). Jeremiah was to tell Jehoiakim that he would have no one to sit on the throne of David and that his corpse would be cast out to the heat by day and to the frost by night. Jehoiakim was also told that Jehovah would punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity and that He would bring on them and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and on the men of Judah all the evil that He had spoken against them. Although He had spoken to them concerning these things, they would not listen (vv. 30-31).
Then Jeremiah took another scroll, and Baruch the scribe wrote on it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim had burned; and many more words like those were added to them (v. 32). From this we see that although Israel was stubborn in sinning against Jehovah, Jeremiah remained firm in his speaking for Him.
