Jeremiah 41:44: A Fatal Mistake

Has there even been a people or nation so stubborn as Israel?  No matter what the Lord said or promised them, they refused to obey.  This is true after the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon.  They did not heed God's word that they would prosper in exile, instead they continued to take matters into their own hands.  First they killed Gedaliah, the governor appointed by the King of Babylon. Then they abandon the land for safety in Egypt in spite of Jeremiah's warning.

"O remnant of Judah, the LORD has told you, 'Do not go to Egypt.' Be sure of this: I warn you today that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the LORD your God and said, 'Pray to the LORD our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.'  I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the LORD your God in all he sent me to tell you. So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle."  - Jer. 42:19-22 NIV

It was a fatal mistake.  There was nothing ,in any fiber of their being, that wanted to trust in God's provision.  Once they were in Egypt, they resumed their own ways and started worshipping the gods of Egypt and the 'Queen of Heaven' and flaunting that worship in front of Jeremiah and the Lord.  Jeremiah realizes that they are without hope.  A remnant will be saved, but it will not be those who fled to Egypt, or trusted their own actions or in any other gods.

"Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows! But hear the word of the LORD, all Jews living in Egypt: 'I swear by my great name,' says the LORD, 'that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, "As surely as the Sovereign LORD lives."  For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed.  Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs. - Jer. 44: 25-28 NIV

Jeremiah 37-40: The Right Right Way

No matter what Jeremiah says, the kings and the people remaining in Jerusalem will not listen to him.  The ones who have not surrendered to the Babylonians are still trying to hold on to the glory days, but they are gone.  Every time Jeremiah tries to tell them that disaster is coming, they throw him in prison or down a cistern.  King Zedekiah finally gives some credence to what Jeremiah has been saying all along, but even then, he tries to hide it from the other officials left in the city, because they will kill Jeremiah if he mentions defeat.  Their bread is running out, the Babylonians are building a siege ramp to enter the city, and the Babylonian army is on the move. Yet they still believe they can survive.  Zedekiah's request, that Jeremiah pray to God for them, comes too late.  The city is stormed and burned.  Zedekiah's sons are all killed and he is blinded and led into captivity along with the rest of those who remained in the city.  Only the poor, working the fields, remained.  The king and all of those in positions of influence had it all wrong.

It is better to surrender than be taken captive,
Better to be poor than rich,
Better to trust in God than in any noble leadership.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.- Proverbs 14:12 KJV

Jeremiah 34-36: Freedom

As the last days of Israel wind down, there are many stories of the people, some of them are stories of trust and others are not.  The story of freedom for the slaves is one of the latter.  The people made a covenant with King Zedekiah to set the slaves free.  This should not have been something difficult for Israel since, as part of their covenant with God, they were always to celebrate a Year of Jubilee every fifty years when the land returned to it's rightful owners and every seven years they were supposed to set any fellow Hebrew slaves free.  But the people remaining in Jerusalem had long since stopped trusting in God and trusted only in their own power and position.  So they reneged on their covenant with King Zedekiah and once more enslaved the ones who had been set free.  God's message to them was if they would not proclaim freedom to their slaves, God would proclaim freedom to them.  Sounds like they were getting a bargain, but the freedom God was giving them would last their lifetime.

"Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom for your fellow countrymen. So I now proclaim 'freedom' for you, declares the LORD -'freedom' to fall by the sword, plague and famine." Jer. 34:17 NIV

They were going to be free.  God was going to lift his hand from them and they would be free to suffer the consequences of their actions.  Freedom, especially from God, has it's price.

Jeremiah 32-33: The Deed is Sealed

Jeremiah is being held prisoner in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah because Zedekiah didn't like what he prophesied about Jerusalem being handed over to Nebuchadnezzar.  However, if Zedekiah had observed Jeremiah closely, he would have seen that the Lord was not promising total destruction, instead he was promising restoration.  To illustrate, God told Jeremiah to buy a field from his cousin, Hanamel, and  "Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time.  For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.' - Jer. 32:14-15 NIV

Therein lies the promise, that the deed, sealed in a jar, would be needed someday, because the people in exile would be coming back. Jeremiah could see what Zedekiah could not, that nothing was to difficult for the Lord to bring about.

 "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Jer. 32:17 NIV
 
And therein lies our promise as well.  The deed has been sealed.  Only this time, it is the king who will be coming back to a people still living in exile from the world, as it was created to be.

Jeremiah 30-31: God's Never Ending Love for Israel

What Israel's enemies have failed to see down through the centuries is that they are nothing more than pawns in the hands of God.  Any punishment that they have delivered to Israel has been the Lord's doing, not their own.  And while all of the nations of the earth may abandon Israel, God will never do so.  Not only that, but there will come a time when Israel will not abandon God.

 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people. - Jer. 31:33 NIV

Lest anyone gets weary of waiting, or thinks the restoration of Israel will never come to pass, God's promise is as steady and sure as the world that we know.

This is what the LORD says,
he who appoints the sun
to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
to shine by night,
who stirs up the sea
so that its waves roar—
the LORD Almighty is his name:
"Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,"
declares the LORD,
"will the descendants of Israel ever cease
to be a nation before me." - Jer. 31:35-36 NIV

Jeremiah 28-29: Surrounded by Voices of Hope

There are now two groups of Israelites:  those remaining in Jerusalem and those in exile in Babylon.  There are also two different groups of prophets:  those who prophesy that the fortunes of Jerusalem will turn in a couple of years and the exiles will return, and Jeremiah who delivers God's word to the exiles to settle down, marry, have children and grandchildren and pray for the prosperity of the city to which they were exiled. 

Jeremiah sees what the others cannot see.  He sees that the prophets promise a false hope to those still trying to hold on to the life they have known.  And at the same time, he sees a future for those who have let go of the past and submitted to God's punishment of being exiled.  Jeremiah gives the exiles Gods promise of something to look forward to:

"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 and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.  I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."  - Jer. 29:11-14 NIV

Captivity is not always the worst thing.  Sometimes that's where the only true hope lies.

Jeremiah 25-27: The Cup of God's Wrath

God's command to Jeremiah:

"Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them:
" 'The LORD will roar from on high;
he will thunder from his holy dwelling
and roar mightily against his land.
He will shout like those who tread the grapes,
shout against all who live on the earth.
The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the LORD will bring charges against the nations;
he will bring judgment on all mankind
and put the wicked to the sword,' "
declares the LORD.
This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"Look! Disaster is spreading
from nation to nation;
a mighty storm is rising
from the ends of the earth."  - Jer. 25:30-32: NIV

Just as Jeremiah prophesied, Israel was taken into captivity, along with many of their neighboring countries by the Babylonians.  Eventually, Babylon, the nation that destroyed Israel, was destroyed as well. 

Sometimes it's difficult to know if these words of the Lord from the mouth of Jeremiah apply only to Israel's day or to days to come.  It really doesn't matter.  The bottom line is this:  If God's people are not faithful, he will raise up an enemy to destroy them.  And lest anyone think that the enemy God uses is so almighty and powerful, that very same enemy will also meet their destruction at the hand of God some day.  Evil always gets it's just reward.  God's wrath is always poured out on the wicked.  It may not be in our time frame, but it always happens.