NOTES ON JEREMIAH

Notes from the Jewish Study Bible

For the next few days I am going to publish some notes taken from the Jewish Study Bible on Jeremiah and overlay them with their meaning from a follower of Yeshua perspective.


If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. 1 Corinthians 15.19


The books of the prophets are types and shadows of the coming millennial kingdom. Within the historial context of Israel's rebellion and punishment we are seeing the coming end of the age. When Paul said the above quote he was looking towards the resurrection and the coming kingdom. Our present troubles are preparation for something much greater to come. As God's people we need to have a vision of the world to come in order to sustain us in times of trouble. Read on!

Jeremiah 3.18-25...The reunification of Israel and Judah was a major goal of Josiah’s program of religious reform and national restoration. The return of all 12 tribes of Israel to the restored Jerusalem Temple is the foundation of Jewish thought concerning the days of Messiah and the world to come (Ez 40-48). The ingathering of all the exiles is likewise an important motif in modern Zionism.
 

The promises of God are to Israel--not the church. The church, better described as the assembly, is grafted into Israel--therefore the assembly is included into the promises to Israel--we in effect have become grafted into these promises.


Jeremiah 13.15-17...takes up the images of light and darkness found in Isaiah’s oracle concerning the darkness overtaking the land prior to the emergence of the righteous Davidic Monarch (Is 8.16-9.6). Isaiah stated he would wait for God who hides the divine face from Israel until the people walking in darkness see a great light (Is 8.17; 9.1). According to Jeremiah the time of darkness has arrived in his own time. The prophet weeps over this.


In our time we need to meditate on the prophetic meaning of the end of this age--the second coming. We see types and shadows of the end of the age--and the book of Revelation in these verses. Israel awaits the coming Davidic Monarch--Messiah--who was promised.


The Lord said: “Surely it will be well with your remnant; Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you in the time of adversity and in the time of affliction. Can anyone break iron, the northern iron and the bronze? Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder without price, because of all your sins, throughout your territories. and I will make you cross over with your enemies into a land which you do not know; for a fire is kindled in My anger, Which shall burn upon you.” Jeremiah 15.11-14

God responds by claiming a remnant will survive. This idea is also found in Isaiah 4.2-6; 6.1-13; 7.1-9; 10.20-26; 37.30-32


When we understand there is no pre-tribulation rapture the prophets make sense. The assembly (church) is make up of obedient believes. Not all believers are obedient. What happened to ancient Judah and Israel is a shadow of the end of the age. The apostate church will experience judgment just as God's people Judah and Israel did for their disobedience. The remnant is best seen in Jeremiah 29.


Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests and to the prophets and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon…Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said, unto all that are carried away captives… Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them; take wives and beget sons and daughters; give wives unto your sons and give husbands unto your daughters, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be multiplied there and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. Jeremiah 29.1-7


Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles begins with God’s instructions to accept life in Babylonia and to build lives and families there. The command to seek the welfare of the city is seen in Torah service for Shabbat and Festivals. The command to pray for the welfare of Babylonia is somewhat of a shock as the people would have thought to pray for Jerusalem and not Babylon.

It is apparent that those who were taken captive are the ones who are being blessed! Captivity can be a place of safety in the Lord. Those taken captive were those who truly had a heart for the Lord. Many were initially taken captive years earlier, including Daniel, prior to the destruction of the city in 586 BC. This is a concept to note; that the place of safety is in captivity (cf Micah 2.12-13; Isaiah 63.1-4). Those who remain behind are God's rebellious people.


For thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said: Let not your prophets and your diviners that are in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye dream. For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, said the LORD. Jeremiah 29.8-9


Once again the issue of false prophets is raised by Jeremiah. The false prophets were telling the people what they wanted to hear--that all would be well and Jerusalem would not fall--in spite of their sinful ways.


For…the LORD said, that after seventy years are accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and quicken my good word upon you to cause you to return to this place (Jerusalem). For I know the thoughts that I think concerning you, said the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you the end that you wait for. Then ye shall call upon me, and ye shall walk in my ways and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you…ye shall seek me, and find me, for ye shall seek me with all your heart. And I will be found of you…and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the Gentiles and from all the places where I have driven you, said the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive. Jeremiah 29.10-14.


God’s promise to those in captivity is one of a future and hope. God will hear them as they call upon Him. He will preserve them in captivity and prosper them so that they will be able to return to Jerusalem. Therefore they are told to pray for Babylon while they are there. As Babylon prospers so will they. Then at His appointed time they will return home. Jeremiah had the word of the Lord. It did not match up with all the other prophets--but it was of the Lord!


…thus hath the LORD said of the king that sits upon the throne of David and of all the people that dwell in this city and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity…Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence and will make them like the evil figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will give them over as a reproach to all the kingdoms of the earth, as a curse, and as an astonishment, and a hissing, and an affront, unto all the Gentiles where I have driven them: because they did not hearken unto my words…which I sent unto them by my slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye did not hear, said the LORD. Jeremiah 29.16-31


Jeremiah portrays a scenario in which the king (Zedekiah) and the people left in the land of Judah will suffer further punishment from God at the hands of the Babylonians because they did not listen to God’s true prophets. It thus appears that the ones left behind where the rebellious ones who failed to follow Torah and did evil in the sight of the Lord. The others have been taken safely into captivity! A place of holding until restoration comes.


Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said regarding Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and regarding Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy falsely unto you in my name; Behold, I deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes...Jeremiah 29.21


The false prophets will be slain before the eyes of those left behind in Jerusalem. The rebellious are punished for their disobedience. Only God knows our hearts. Many who say, "Lord, Lord, will not enter." Ref: Hebrews 10.30-31

Next: More Notes on Jeremiah