A Questionable Investment “Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’ Jeremiah 32:8 The story skips ahead to just before the fall of Jerusalem (remember the book isn’t arranged in chronological order) while Jeremiah is imprisoned and the city is under siege. Jeremiah is asked to buy some property not long before everyone is carried into exile. This doesn’t sound like the best time to […]
Category Archives: Bible Study
Jeremiah 31
Rachel Weeps Jeremiah’s prophecy of restoration continues. Just as the Lord had scattered Israel, so he would gather them. In the midst of these uplifting words, he says: This is what the Lord says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping,Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” Jeremiah 31:15 This verse may sound familiar because it is quoted in Matthew 2:18. When King Herod tried to kill the baby Jesus by slaughtering all the baby boys in Bethlehem, Matthew says that incident fulfilled this verse. The context of this verse is the image of […]
Jeremiah 30
Restoration After many prophecies of doom and gloom, the prophet shifts his message to what will happen afterward. Jerusalem’s destruction and depopulation will not be the end. The Lord will bring the nation back. The yoke mentioned a couple of chapters ago will be broken: “‘In that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘I will break the yoke off their necksand will tear off their bonds; no longer will foreigners enslave them.Instead, they will serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. Jeremiah 30:8-9 How can David be their king? Isn’t he dead? David wouldn’t literally be king, of course. It’s referring to […]
Jeremiah 29
A Change of Plans The problem with false prophets continues in this chapter, this time in Babylon. Some false prophets tell their fellow Israelites that it won’t be long before they return home. Jeremiah sends those in exile a letter, reiterating that it will be 70 years before it ends, so get comfortable. Settle down and rebuild your lives in that foreign land. It is in this chapter that a very well-known and beloved passage is found: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope […]
Jeremiah 28
Prophet vs Prophet With the yoke still on his neck, Jeremiah encounters resistance to his message of submission. Hananiah the prophet preaches the exact opposite of Jeremiah the prophet: within 2 years the people and temples vessels will return from Babylon (Jeremiah 28:3-4). Who is to be believed? Both have the title “prophet”! I find it interesting how many times Jeremiah and Hananiah are given their titles of prophet throughout this chapter. Isn’t once enough? The author seems to be going out of his way to highlight this. Hananiah’s false prediction was dangerous. Not only would it not save the […]
Jeremiah 27
The Yoke This is what the Lord said to me: “Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck. Jeremiah 27:2 The Lord commands Jeremiah to make a yoke and bind it to his neck as a symbol for how the nations will be subservient to Babylon. If they resist, they will face the brunt of the Babylonian war machine. This image continues into the next chapter where the false prophet Hananiah takes it off Jeremiah’s neck and breaks it, declaring that God would lift the burden soon. Oh, how mistaken he would be! Yesterday was Independence Day […]
Jeremiah 26
Like Shiloh Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.’” Jeremiah 26:3-6 God gives Jeremiah another message for the people in hopes that they would listen and repent. Ironically, it says they do listen (verse 7), but their response isn’t what was […]
Jeremiah 25
Seventy Years In Jeremiah 25:3, the prophet proclaims that he’s been at it for twenty-three years, trying to call the nation to repent. In general, people haven’t listened. Jeremiah has already described the the bad things that were going to happen. However, he adds one additional detail this time: the desolation would last seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11). All except some of the youngest would never see the land again after being carried into exile. This timetable is referenced a couple other times. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in […]
Jeremiah 24
Good and Bad Figs [T]he 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. Jeremiah 24:1b-2 Figs and dates are some of my favorite fruits. Dried out, they’re like candy. A few years ago in Israel, I tasted a fresh, ripe fig for the first time, picked right from the tree. I excitedly looked for more afterward. Later we found several fig trees and picked a dozen or more figs and stored them in a […]
Jeremiah 23
False Prophets Jeremiah moves his message from condemnation of unjust leaders to lying prophets. It’s easy to want to listen to someone who speaks what you want to hear. “Everything is fine! Nothing bad will happen!” Such false statements can easily make a bad situation become worse. God was not pleased when such so-called prophets claimed to be speaking for him. 33 “When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, ‘What is the message from the Lord?’ say to them, ‘What message? I will forsake you, declares the Lord.’ 34 If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, ‘This is a message from […]