Jeremiah 11, 12 & 13
Chapter 11
The Broken Covenant
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “Cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this covenant 4 which I commanded your forefathers on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’ 5 in order to confirm the oath which I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.”’” Then I replied, “Amen, Lord.”
First of all, can you imagine being in a position where God’s word comes directly to you?
That’s a trick question, because you are in that position. We have God’s word recorded here. The words God speaks have highest precedence and absolute authority in our lives… When it says, “cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this covenant which I commanded your forefathers on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt”, we get it… God is talking about the covenant that God gave to Israel in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible, penned by Moses). There are two sides to a covenant. It is a holy agreement between God and His people. Were the people to keep the commandments of God, they would receive blessing, favor and protection from God. But they failed, and they were to receive the curses from God, which included being invaded and taken captive to a foreign land.
We too have failed (I don’t mean to be a Debby Downer here), but it is reality. If we got the justice we deserved for every lie we’ve ever told, everything we’ve ever taken that didn’t belong to us, every time we’ve ever used the LORD’s Name in vain and every time we’ve ever committed a sexual misdeed, every time we’ve dishonored our parents , every time we haven’t honored God by honoring the Sabbath we too would deserve to be taken captivity to a foreign land (that points to hell). And since God is eternal, His justice is eternal. But thankfully, God’s justice was served on his Son Jesus, who suffered the punishment that we deserved and our guilt was placed on His head (just like that crown of thorns was placed on his head.)
6 And the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I solemnly warned your fathers on the day I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, warning them persistently, saying, “Listen to My voice.” 8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart, each one of them; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’”
Do you have someone close to you who you’ve warned about doing something (maybe a bad habit like smoking, or maybe an addiction) and they haven’t listened to you? One of the things Julie tells me is that I am so stubborn. I’ve always been the kind of person that has to learn my own lessons for myself. Let’s covenant among ourselves to soften our hearts towards the LORD first, but also toward each other, and listen and be compliant to the LORD and flexible toward each other.
9 Then the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the wrongdoings of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.” 11 Therefore this is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am bringing disaster on them which they will not be able to escape; though they will cry out to Me, I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they certainly will not save them in the time of their disaster. 13 For your gods are as many as your cities, Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars for burning incense to Baal.
Proverbs 11:21a KJV Though hand join in hand, the wicked will not go unpunished...
We can make ourselves feel good about something, even though it is wrong, and we know it’s wrong, just by letting someone convince us, or by getting someone else to go along with us. A “conspiracy”, in other words, an agreement to do evil. It is a very shameful day when the leaders of Israel and likewise the leaders of supposed Christian churches are in agreement and condone something that is evil. We do not approach truth or right and wrong based on consensus.
There are some very wrong things that certain churches have compromised on, because society says so.
- Abortion
- Sexual ethics
- Violence (on the one hand, bombing an abortion clinic is clearly wrong, but so is promoting violence towards your political opponent)
14 “So as for you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster.
15 What right has My beloved in My house
When she has carried out many evil schemes?
Can the sacrificial flesh take away from you your disaster,
So that you can rejoice?”
16 The Lord named you
“A green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form”;
With the noise of a great tumult
He has set fire to it,
And its branches are worthless.
17 The Lord of armies, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me by offering sacrifices to Baal.
Right along with the previous point, some people act as though religious acts or associations give them the right to do as they please. I can be guilty of taking God’s grace for granted. At that point though, God says don’t even pray for them.
Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny [Him], being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified [reprobate] for every good work.
Plots against Jeremiah
18 Moreover, the Lord made it known to me and I knew it;
Then You showed me their deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;
And I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying,
“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit,
And let’s cut him off from the land of the living,
So that his name will no longer be remembered.”
20 But, Lord of armies, who judges righteously,
Who puts the feelings and the heart to the test,
Let me see Your vengeance on them,
For to You I have committed my cause.
21 Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth, who are seeking your life, saying: “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, so that you do not die by our hand”; 22 therefore, this is what the Lord of armies says: “Behold, I am going to punish them! The young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine; 23 and a remnant will not be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth—the year of their punishment.”
To add insult to injury, his own family/neighbors turned on Jeremiah and were seeking to kill him. They were fed up with this troublemaker. This just shows the LORD was using Jeremiah. Trials, tribulations and persecutions really just show that you are over the target; your ministry is effective.
I do want to highlight Jeremiah’s response, “I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter”. Jeremiah’s response was foreshadowing, and pointing forward to the Messiah’s response when he was persecuted. Jeremiah put his trust in the LORD to ultimately rescue him, and so did Christ, and so should we. I really want to encourage us to follow in Jesus’ footsteps in terms of not standing up for ourselves. Let’s let God fight our battles for us.
Chapter 12
Jeremiah’s Prayer
1 Righteous are You, Lord, when I plead my case with You;
Nevertheless I would discuss matters of justice with You:
Why has the way of the wicked prospered?
Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?
2 You have planted them, they have also taken root;
They grow, they have also produced fruit.
You are near to their lips
But far from their mind.
3 But You know me, Lord;
You see me
And examine my heart’s attitude toward You.
Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter,
And set them apart for a day of slaughter!
4 How long is the land to mourn,
And the vegetation of the countryside to dry up?
Due to the wickedness of those who live in it,
Animals and birds have been snatched away,
Because people have said, “He will not see our final end.”
5 “If you have run with infantrymen and they have tired you out,
How can you compete with horses?
If you fall down in a land of peace,
How will you do in the thicket by the Jordan?
6 For even your brothers and the household of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously with you,
Even they have called aloud after you.
Do not believe them, though they say nice things to you.”
I really like Jeremiah’s honesty and transparency with God. Let’s discuss the matter of your justice Lord. Jeremiah wanted to ask God a question, and he did so in an appropriate way – first recognizing and submitting to God’s righteousness. How do we respond to the wicked prospering? Definitely we don’t rejoice, but do we lose heart. Are we depressed, despondent, dejected?
On the other hand what would happen if there was no mercy? What if mercy was not an attribute of God’s character? What if God was only just? What if the first time any of us sinned, that was it; God executed justice? Where would that leave us?
Verse 2 “You are near to their lips, but far from their mind”. From my perspective, this is a big problem with us (and I mean people in general), we like to be able to talk a good game (like a christian), but our hearts and lives tell a different story.
Matthew 15:7-8 (NASB95) 7 “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 8 ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.
Often what we call backsliding is really that the person never slid forward in the first place.
2 Corinthians 11:26 …[in] perils among false brethren;
Matthew 7:21-23 (NASB95) 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
We wouldn’t want to be in their shoes on judgement day. Here’s what I wonder, I think I know the answer. Are there many who are self-deluded? They think they are christian, and on Judgement day, they will get the shock of their death.
Verse 4 How long will the land mourn: Jeremiah felt that because God did not judge the wicked, it brought mourning even to the land. Their careless attitude (He will not see our final end) had an effect even upon the natural world.
Verse 5 is basically saying, if you think that was bad, (having your countrymen turn on you) just hang on… the judgement that is coming is going to be much, much worse.
Verse 6, what if someone comes to you with nice AKA flattering words? Would you believe them even if what they were saying was contrary to God’s revealed word?
God’s Answer
7 “I have forsaken My house,
I have abandoned My inheritance;
I have handed the beloved of My soul
Over to her enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to Me
Like a lion in the forest;
She has roared against Me;
Therefore I have come to hate her.
9 Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me?
Are the birds of prey against her on every side?
Go, gather all the animals of the field,
Bring them to devour!
10 Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard,
They have trampled down My field;
They have made My pleasant field
A desolate wilderness.
11 It has been made a desolation;
Desolate, it mourns before Me;
The whole land has been made desolate,
Because no one takes it to heart.
12 On all the bare heights in the wilderness
Destroyers have come,
For the sword of the Lord is devouring
From one end of the land even to the other;
There is no peace for anyone.
13 They have sown wheat but have harvested thorns,
They have strained themselves to no profit.
So be ashamed of your produce
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
14 This is what the Lord says concerning all My wicked neighbors who do harm to the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel: “Behold, I am going to drive them out of their land, and I will drive the house of Judah out from among them. 15 And it will come about that after I have driven them out, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land. 16 Then, if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ just as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people. 17 But if they do not listen, then I will drive out that nation, drive it out and destroy it,” declares the Lord.
The judgement is certain. Some of the reason why judgement is certain is because the shepherds (in our parlance pastors) in their day, priests, scribes, teachers, etc. were literally ruining them.
Even in the midst of this, very depressing thought that all is lost that judgment is certain in verse 15 says God will have compassion on them and bring them back to their land
Chapter 13
The Ruined Waistband
1 Thus the Lord said to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” 2 So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the Lord and put it around my waist. 3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying,4 “Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me. 6 After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless. 11 For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they did not listen.’
God uses this picture, this prop if you will, of a sash and how it got buried under a rock in the river Euphrates, which ruined it. To represent how Israel got ruined by their faithlessness. I did think it was interesting that when I looked up information about linen first of all, it is a natural fiber that comes from the flax plant. And it is used for things like sheets, handkerchiefs. Obviously it is a washable fabric, so water wouldn’t hurt it.
Next a sash itself is an item that a priest would wear so it has some sacredness associated with it. It was kinda like a cumber bun. Reminds me of back in the 70s when I was in high school and I went to school dances and I would rent a tuxedo. Oh my goodness how styles have changed. Some of the colors were just outlandish.
I’ll just tell you what I believe. I believe that Jeremiah actually walked north and east to the river Euphrates and he was gone for a long time and this sash came back ruined and it was an object lesson on the fact that the destroyers of Israel, we’re going to be coming from that exact direction.
All this because the people refused to listen to God’s words..
Captivity Threatened
12 “Therefore you are to speak this word to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Every jug is to be filled with wine.”’ And when they say to you, ‘Do we not very well know that every jug is to be filled with wine?’ 13 then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings that sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness! 14 I will dash them against each other, both the fathers and the sons together,” declares the Lord. “I will not show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion so as not to destroy them.”’”
“Every jug is to be filled with wine…” everything will fulfill its purpose or it’ll be okay in the end. And yet it won’t!
15 Listen and give heed, do not be haughty,
For the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God,
Before He brings darkness
And before your feet stumble
On the dusky mountains,
And while you are hoping for light
He makes it into deep darkness,
And turns it into gloom.
17 But if you will not listen to it,
My soul will sob in secret for such pride;
And my eyes will bitterly weep
And flow down with tears,
Because the flock of the Lord has been taken captive.
18 Say to the king and the queen mother,
“Take a lowly seat,
For your beautiful crown
Has come down from your head.”
19 The cities of the Negev have been locked up,
And there is no one to open them;
All Judah has been carried into exile,
Wholly carried into exile.20 “Lift up your eyes and see
Those coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
Your beautiful sheep?
21 “What will you say when He appoints over you—
And you yourself had taught them—
Former companions to be head over you?
Will not pangs take hold of you
Like a woman in childbirth?
22 “If you say in your heart,
‘Why have these things happened to me?’
Because of the magnitude of your iniquity
Your skirts have been removed
And your heels have been exposed.
23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin
Or the leopard his spots?
Then you also can do good
Who are accustomed to doing evil.
24 “Therefore I will scatter them like drifting straw
To the desert wind.
25 “This is your lot, the portion measured to you
From Me,” declares the Lord,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in falsehood.
26 “So I Myself have also stripped your skirts off over your face,
That your shame may be seen.
27 “As for your adulteries and your lustful neighings,
The lewdness of your prostitution
On the hills in the field,
I have seen your abominations.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will you remain unclean?”
Would you say this is a hopeful passage?
Judgment is a sure thing at this point.
God gets the glory and we get a lesson.
Matthew 18:4
4 Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven
