Jeremiah 30-33: The Little Book of Consolation Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ, 07/22 and 29/18

Transcription

1 Jeremiah 30-33: The Little Book of Consolation Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ, 07/22 and 29/18 I. Jeremiah 30: Oracles of Restoration. A. Jer 30:1 11: Prophecies of the Restoration of the Fortunes of Judah 1. Perhaps the best known part of Jeremiah, the Book of Consolation contains some of the more graphic imagery and beautiful language in the book. a. Jeremiah s ministry is one of uprooting and planting, the majority of the book deals with uprooting more than planting, with judgment more than salvation. b. Chapters 26ff, the second half of the book, has more salvation oracles than the first, with pride of place going to the Book of Consolation. c. This "book" is alluded to in 30:2. Jeremiah is commanded to write down in a book the words of the prophecies. d. Probably, since chapters contain the most thoroughgoing oracles of restoration and that is the central motif of the whole section, the book mentioned in v. 2 is chapters :1-11 may be two oracles: 1 3 and a. 1 3 is introductory: it is the theme of the book, that Judah will return from captivity. b. Vv are an oracle which begins with the distress of Judah like a woman bearing a child (strange, considering the analogy is of a man!). (1) The distress is characterized by a man grabbing his loins like a woman in labor. (2) The release from captivity is characterized as the yoke of servitude being broken from his neck (reminiscent of the yoke accounts in chapters 27 28). (3) V. 9 raises one of the main themes of this book of restoration: Davidic kingship will also be restored. B. Jer 30:12 17: The Incurable Wound. 1. This is the sad reality of Judah on the verge of destruction. Can Judah be delivered in the nick of time? Can her political and conspiratorial partners save her from destruction? Can her wound be healed? 2. Her wound is completely incurable. There is no hope. 3. Her co conspirators ( her lovers ) have completely abandoned her. Page 1

2 II. 4. There is no hope, except from the Lord God, who is able to restore health and save her from her disaster. C. Jer 30:18 24: Restoration of the Cities of Judah. 1. This oracle foresees a time of rebuilding of the restored community on the mound ( tel ) of Jerusalem, on the floor plan or foundation footprint. 2. Normal activities will ensue, and far beyond these not only normal government and building activities, but an honored reputation, a great community in number and significance, and the restoration of a true, faithful, and righteous ruler. 3. If vv belong to this prophecy, then the storm of the Lord, his divine presence in judgment and power, is a symbol of his wrath being spent to the full, but note that the recipients of his wrath are not specified. a. They could be the Judeans, the Babylonians, or any others who have violated God s holiness. b. More importantly, restoration will only happen after punishment of the wicked. c. The intriguing final comment that they would only understand it in latter days deals with restoration in future times, and the fact that people hearing the oracle could not understand it is not surprising. Jeremiah 31: New Wilderness, New Land and People, New Covenant. A. Chapter 31 is the epitome of restoration chapters, including the New Covenant section. B. Vv. 1 9 contain a number of motifs common elsewhere. 1. The Lord will once again send his people to a new Egypt, then again lead Israel into the wilderness, from whence he would allure her into a new covenant relationship (vv. 1 3). 2. The extent of his salvation is all of Israel and Judah (vv. 1, 5 6, 9), reunited as one land (v. 6). 3. Not them alone, but the marginalized and unclean the blind, the lame, the pregnant. 4. The way will be made straight and level, so there will be no impediment for the exiles of Israel and Judah to return (v. 9). C. Jer 31:10 14: Oracle to the Nations to Give Up the Exiles. 1. In this oracle, the nations are urged to give up their exiles, so that the exiles might themselves stream back to Zion. Page 2

3 D. E. F. 2. God is here depicted as a shepherd, unlike Judah s false shepherds; God is the shepherd who scattered them, but who will once again gather them in the future. The language for such gathering is that of the exodus from Egypt: he will redeem (ga al) and ransom (padah) them. Jer 31:15 22: A Voice Heard in Ramah. 1. It is possible that Judah is intended in this oracle and that the weeping of Rachel for her children at Ramah = the destruction of Judah and the exile. 2. I think Rachel weeping for her children is a reference to the destruction of North Israel. 3. It has ongoing relevance for the current generation of Judeans who will suffer exile and also resonate with the image of Rachel weeping for her children. 4. The point of this oracle is a lament for the loss of Israel and Judah, but also the passage holds out the promise of God s restoration of Israel and the consoling of the disconsolate mother, Rachel. Jer 31:23 26: A Word of Comfort to Jerusalem 1. Judgment is never God s final word, but rather mercy and grace. 2. V. 26 is very unusual, and may reflect how Jeremiah received, at least at times, the prophetic word in this case, he was asleep, and he received it in visions or dreams. Jer 31:27 34: The New (Renewed?) Covenant. 1. Vv form one oracle, vv another, but they are connected. 2. Vv : a. Agricultural metaphors are used: God was about to restore the seed = offspring of man and beast. b. V. 28 reiterates the theme of the book, that God had set out to uproot them as one uproots a plant, but now he is about to plant them. c. Finally, in vv , a sour grape analogy is used, reminiscent of Isaiah 5 and Ezekiel 18. This also continues the theme of the wild vine of 2:21. (1) Some of the Judeans were saying that they were paying for the sins that their fathers had committed. (2) The thrust of the passage is not that they were unjustly treated, but that if they suffered it was because of their own sin. 3. Vv : a. Probably the most well known passage in the book, due to its resonance with New Testament theology and reference to a New Covenant. Page 3

4 III. (1) The question here is not the relationship of this passage to the New Testament, but rather its relationship to covenant passages in the Old. (2) The Old Covenant was just as much a matter of the heart as the New, not, as it is often caricatured, as a matter of external acts only. b. In what way is the New Covenant unlike the Old Covenant, in that the new one will be kept in the heart and written there? (1) The language of the New Covenant may simply mean renewed, as Hebrew has no word to differentiate between new and renew (hadash may mean either). (2) The covenant needed renewal, for it was irrevocably broken in the hearts of the people of Judah. Perhaps it was new in the sense that if there was going to be a covenant, God would have to make a new one with them, for the old one had been broken utterly. (3) The newness might simply mean that it was possible for the people to forget, break, or marginalize the old covenant, but the new, or renewed one, will be inscribed in their hearts so they cannot forget it. G. Jer 31:35 40: God Will Never Abandon His People. 1. It is not possible for God to violate his own covenant; if he could do that, he would also forget the eternal statutes of day and night. 2. God will not forget his people, who will be restored to the land, workers will again engage in building projects (vv ), and specific survey points are mentioned. Jeremiah 32: The Parable of Hanamel's Property. A. Jer 32:1 5: Oracle About Zedekiah. 1. A short oracle intended to emphasize that Zedekiah s rebellion, and the military hopes of the Judeans in Jerusalem, will not succeed. 2. Zedekiah will end his days in exile. B. Jer 32:6 15: The Purchase of the Field from Hanamel, and an Oracle of Restoration. 1. The majority of this chapter takes up the account of Jeremiah s cousin, Hanamel, who wanted to sell a plot of land in Anathoth. a. Jeremiah, as the near kinsman (go el), had the right of redemption, which he exercises. b. These things occur in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, that is 587 BC, the very eve of the destruction of Jerusalem. c. The initial verses of this chapter make it quite clear that Zedekiah and Judah would lose and go into exile. Page 4

5 IV. d. He invests in real estate at the very time the Babylonians are running amuck throughout the land of Judah! 2. The point is, when all the people of Judah realize that there is no longer any hope, this is the time when Jeremiah s message changes from judgment to hope. There was no better time to invest in real estate than when you could buy it extremely low, due to the invasion! 3. The passage has a book or deed of purchase, signed and copied, in the presence of witnesses, a legal transaction. That is, this transaction is legal, certain, and filed away for its future resolution and actualization! C. Jer 32:16 25: Jeremiah s Prayer. 1. Jeremiah s prayer also involves the parable of the purchase of Hanamel s land. 2. The prayer begins by listing several of God s sovereign attributes as creator (v ), as judge and king (v ), and as the God of the Exodus and conquest (vv ). 3. In spite of all these acts of kindness and grace, the people disobeyed the torah (v. 23). Because of their disregard for the torah (injustice, idolatry, etc.), God was about to bring upon them all the evil which he promised to do to them if they disobeyed in these ways (Deuteronomy 7 11, 27 32, 1 Kings 8 9, etc.). 4. In light of this, how unusual to purchase a plot of land in Anathoth (v. 25). D. Jer 32:26 44: God s Response: Reason for Exile and Promise of Return. 1. This section is in two or three parts: a. first, because of the Judeans idolatry and corruption, the Chaldeans were coming to destroy Judah. b. Because they had violated the first covenant, God was about to make an eternal covenant with them, one in their hearts so they could not break it (v. 40) and would gather them from the nations to which they were scattered. c. God was about to plant them again, a reference to the book's theme (v. 41). Jeremiah 33: God's Two Families. A. Jer 33:1 13: Restoration of the Cities of Judah. 1. This is an oracle about, and to, the cities of Judah. 2. The it of v. 2 may be a reference to the cities, or more likely the earth, eretz, the object often of God s making and fashioning power. Page 5

6 B. C. D. 3. V. 13 covers the entire land of Judah: the Western foothills, the Southern Negev Desert, the northern Benjamin, and Jerusalem and other cities of Judah. Jer 33:14 18: God s Eternal Covenant with David and Levi. 1. God has made an eternal covenant with his two families : David that there would always be someone to sit upon the throne of David and Levi that there would always be a priest to offer the regular sacrifices. 2. Typical terminology is found here which is imagery or shorthand for the eternal covenant with David. 3. In the late pre-exilic (Jeremiah), exilic (Ezekiel), and early post-exilic (Zechariah) periods, the priesthood assumes greater and greater importance, to the point that the High Priest becomes ones of God s two anointed ones (Zechariah). 4. Such passages as this and others in chapter 33 raise critical questions about the nature and function of prophecy, as kingship goes away in 587 BC, never to return in the same form, and in 70 AD the sacrificial system goes away, not to return. 5. What do such passages mean in light of the historical realities? Here are some options: a. Eternal means a long time ; b. The New Testament understands all such messianic prophecies to be fulfilled in Jesus (especially Matthew); and c. Such priestly prophecies are fulfilled in Jesus as high priest and in the life of the individual believer (Hebrews). Jer 33:19 22: Unbreakable Covenant with David and Levi. 1. This passage is very similar to the last one, reflecting the eternal covenant, unbreakable, with David and Levi. Jer 33:23 26: God Has Rejected His Two Families. 1. Once again, this is a very strong statement about the eternal nature of God s arrangement with the family of David and Levi. 2. Apparently, between the two deportations, people were beginning to doubt whether God was going to honor his covenant. 3. Jeremiah reassures them it was impossible that God would do so. Page 6