Recap

So far in Jeremiah we’ve started the book, looking at Jeremiah’s calling and accusation against Judah. The book of Jeremiah is a collection of messages and poems by the prophet Jeremiah, who was a prophet to Judah immediately before their exile. We read as God called Jeremiah to be his mouth pieces to Judah to weed out corruption and idolatry in Judah. The people would not listen to him, but his teachings would serve as a foundation for the people after they’d been exiled.

Jeremiah then started off focus on the people’s relationship with God. God had been the one who led them out of Egypt, but they quickly forgot that. The Israelites instead chose to worship other gods, essentially committing adultery against God. God pointed out that Deuteronomy made it clear if a man divorces his wife and she goes off with another man, she can’t then return to her first husband.

In the same way, God couldn’t accept Israel back as his wife after all that she’s done. Similar imagery was used to reflect on when Israel split into the two kingdoms; Israel in the north and Judah in the south. These two kingdoms were like two sisters who were both married to God. One, Israel, had already been set aside because of her affairs. The other, Judah, was starting to do the same.

We read as Jeremiah tried to lead the people to repentance, but they would not listen. He grieved the destruction he knew was coming to Judah, likening it to decreation. Returning the land to it state before God created it. God even sent out Jeremiah to find anyone righteous that would make Judah worth saving, much like Abraham with God in Genesis 18. But Jeremiah found no one.

Again, Jeremiah calls the people to repent, but God tells Jeremiah not to pray for them. Their opportunity to change has gone. The era of wise men is gone. It's time for the women who mourn to lead.

We saw the first few cracks for Jeremiah. He was being persecuted and sometimes it looked like wicked people are flourishing. God encouraged Jeremiah that punishment is coming. We read as Jeremiah wrestled with his job. He tried to intercede for the people again but God told him not to. Instead, Job has to settle with being hated and mocked by the people.

Jeremiah 18-22

Jeremiah goes down to a potter's house and watches him make some pottery. He watches as the potter will try to make one thing, say a vase, but the clay refused to do what he wanted it to, so he started from scratch and turned the clay into something else, say a cup. In the same way, God intended to make Israel great, an example to the rest of the earth, but the people refused to do what he wanted. So he's going to crush them and start again. The good news is if they repent and submit to his ways, he will once again make them into something beautiful. Unfortunately, this doesn't look like it will happen.

God compares Judah to things in nature that are consistent with their nature. Judah, however, is inconsistent, wondering around, hurting one another, worshipping false gods even though they have the God of the universe. Upon hearing this, the people decide to trap and kill Jeremiah. So Jeremiah appeals to God to rescue and save him. His compassion for the people is gone. If they will treat him like this, then God can do what he wants with them.

God then tells Jeremiah to take buy a piece of pottery from the potter. Then he should gather some of the elders of Judah and take them outside of the city. There he is to condemn the people for all their wickedness and then destroy the piece of pottery in front of them. Just as Jeremiah destroyed the pottery because it was no longer useful to him, God will destroy Judah because it has become useless to him. And he will destroy it in a way that no one can put it back together.

One of the elders, a priest called Pashhur, decided to capture Jeremiah and put him in the stocks for saying these things. When Jeremiah is let out the next day, he rebukes Pashhur and prophesies his destruction. We then see this northern army named for the first time in this book. Babylon. Babylon will come, raid Judah, and take many people, including Pashhur, into captivity, where they will die in Babylon.

Jeremiah again grieves his role as God's prophet. He turns to God and complains. He has done everything God has asked. Jeremiah has spoken the words of destruction that God has asked him, but all it gets him is mockery and abuse. He desperately wants to just stop and never mention again, but he can't because this conviction to speak is like a fire in his bones that he has to let out. Even his friends hate him and are waiting for when he will trip up.

Then Jeremiah perks up a little. He admits that God is like a warrior protecting him, that God is righteous and knows what he is doing. He sings to the Lord, praising him for looking after the needy. But then Jeremiah lapses back into depression, wishing he had never been born, or that his father had killed him in the womb. Jeremiah is the perfect example of how even those who are faithful to God can struggle at times with depression or disappointment.

But then the tides change a little. Seeing the threat of the Babylonians coming, the king, Zedekiah, sends Pashhur, a different Pashhur to the one from the previous chapter, to Jeremiah in the hope that Jeremiah may help them. No longer are they mocking and hurting Jeremiah. Now they want his help. Unfortunately, it's too late. Jeremiah's message to the king is that God will actively fight against the people of Judah so that Babylon will defeat them.

Jeremiah then tells the people that the best thing they can do is surrender to the Babylonians and be taken into exile. Otherwise, they will be struck down by disease or by the sword. God tells Jeremiah to speak directly to the royal household and tell them to pursue justice and help the oppressed, because currently God is against them. He is ready to punish them according to their deeds, and will punish them if they do not change.

God then doubles down on this message. He tells the royal family to "Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed" (Jeremiah 22:3). If they obey this, then God will defend the royal family and protect their reign. If they don’t, he will destroy them. He will make them like a desert and will prepare their enemies against them.

Then Jeremiah has a message for each of the kings that followed Josiah. Josiah was the last good king of Judah. After him, all the kings were wicked, and so Jeremiah has a message for each of them. You can read about these kings in 2 Kings 23-25. The one called Shallum here in Jeremiah is called Jehoahaz in 2 Kings, and the one called Coniah (or later, Jeconiah) here in Jeremiah is called Jehoiachin in 2 Kings.

Psalm 16

This psalm is attributed to king David and falls into the category of trust psalm. These psalms sing of confidence in who God is.

Psalm 16:1-2 - The Lord my refuge

Psalm 16:3-4 - Contrast between those who are committed to the Lord and those who worship other gods

Psalm 16:5-6 - The Lord my portion

Psalm 16:7-8 - The Lord my comfort

Psalm 16:9-11 - The Lord my joy

The psalm opens up with the psalmist laying out their stall, so to speak. God is the one that they trust in. As far as they are concerned, there is nothing good that can be found outside God.

Those that are equally faithful to God are an encouragement to the psalmist. But those that choose to worship other gods choose a way of sorrow. The psalmist will never make offerings to other gods or speak their names. He wants nothing to do with them.

And so he sets his eyes back on the Lord. The Lord is our portion and inheritance. For an Israelite, being a follower of God was part of their inheritance. Just like someone enjoys wealth or property being handed down to them, the Israelites see their faith as a blessing they inherit.

This is also true for us as Christians. This access to God is something we inherit as adopted children of God.

The Lord is our comfort. When we are unsure or struggling, it is the Lord who comforts and advises us. He goes before us, protecting us and holding us stable, even when it feels like we’re unstable. This promise (Psalm 16:10) is picked up in the New Testament when they talk about Jesus’ resurrection. God did not abandon Jesus to death but restored him to life (Acts 2:25-28; 13:35).

Because of all this, the Lord is our joy. We have a security, that God won’t abandon us. He offers us life. His very presence is a source of joy.