A Study in Jeremiah Lesson 7 > Jeremiah 26:1-24; 18:1-23 I. A Summary of the Temple Sermon 26:1-6 a. A more detailed version is in 7:1 8:3 b. Jehoiakim is the new king: Son of Josiah, brother of Jehoahaz. c. 1-2 Jeremiah receives explicit instructions: i. Deliver the message of God in the outer court where the people assembled. ii. He was not to omit a word of the message for fear of the consequences. iii. He was not to trim the message to fit the people s feelings. d. 3 > Perhaps... each will turn from his evil ways i. Repentance is always an individual matter. ii. Prediction of divine judgment is conditional. iii. True repentance would be met with God s willingness to relent from His threatened punishment. e. 4-6 This is a clearer plea than in Chapter 7 and contains three major points: i. 4 The necessity of obeying God s law in order to avert coming punishment. ii. 5 Jeremiah aligns with other of Judah s prophets who preached repentance and judgment. iii. 6 The intensity of the sentence on the temple and Jerusalem. iv. Shiloh was not far from Jerusalem and the people could see the consequence of judgment. v. Jerusalem would be an object lesson of the consequences of incurring God s wrath a contrast to Gen 12:3. II. The Leaders and People s Unfavorable Response 26:7-24 a. 7-11 Jeremiah is arrested, tried and condemned by the royals of Judah: i. 7 The people & leaders listened quietly until Jeremiah finished speaking. The prophets were pseudoprophets. ii. 8 The fury broke as he finished. 1. As he was arrested, the death penalty was issued. 2. 9 Priests, prophets & people refused to believe his prediction. 3. Jeremiah was charged with blasphemy and false prophecy both punishable by death > Deut 18:20. 4. The priests and false prophets were angered because Jeremiah s prophecy countered their promise that their reliance on God would result in His deliverance, such as in Hezekiah s day (Isa 37:36-37). iii. 10 The tumult was so great that the court officials hearing of the rebellion by the mob, hurried from the palace to the temple. 1. This may have been a timely move that saved Jeremiah from being killed by the out-of-control mob.
2. They took their places where the trials were held, The New Gate > possibly the temple s eastern gate built by Jotham. 20:2 iv. 11 The prosecutors announce the verdict before the people choose. 1. Jeremiah spoke against the temple and the city. 2. Prosecution only mentioned the city, which gives it a political slant and appeals to those who heard the message. b. 12-15 Jeremiah testifies in his own defense and distinguishes between his divine message and his personal destiny: i. 12-13 His defense has remained consistent all along God sent him with this message against the city and the temple. 1. Their contention would have to be with God, not with him. 2. Again, he calls them to repentance; stating that there is still time because Jeremiah holds to the hope God offers His people. ii. 14-15 His courage and fidelity to God shines brightly. 1. He does not plead for his life because he knows his enemies have the ability to carry out the death sentence 14. 2. He warns them of the consequence involved if they kill him 15. 3. He had a clear conscience, even in his deep concern. He knew that he had done nothing wrong and the capital punishment, if carried out, would be unjust before God. c. 16-19 A third voice is surprisingly heard during the trial: i. 16 Jeremiah s bold response in the Spirit grips the heart of the civil officials: 1. They side with Jeremiah against the priests and false prophets. 2. These judges are less prejudice than the religious leaders. 3. They see Jeremiah as he is, the messenger of God who has a right to be heard; If sent by God, he was bound to that oath. ii. 17 The noun Elders is not an official status but one that recognizes men of advanced age. iii. 18-19 The reference to Micah: 1. Lived more than a century earlier. 2. Predicted to Hezekiah the coming destruction of the temple, but was not put to death by the king (Mic 3:12; 2 Kng 18:3-6). 3. This reference added weight to Jeremiah s defense. 4. He was acquitted by the civil leaders who saw the coming tragedy if the Lord s messenger was mistreated. 5. The civil officials do not outright say that Jeremiah s message is true: a. They give him the right to speak and be heard. b. They settle the dispute by arguing that the voice of prophecy must be taken seriously by God s people. d. 20-24 An unrelated intrusion into the narrative that contrasts with Jeremiah s situation: i. Uriah, an unknown prophet, appears: 1. Things do not go as good for him as for Jeremiah. 2
2. He is a true prophet who speaks the same message as Jeremiah. 3. He demonstrates the brutal policy of the king and proves Jeremiah s situation was real and serious. 4. Uriah s story (not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture): a. King Jehoiakim hears of his message (same as Jeremiah s) and issues an order to have Uriah killed. b. Uriah hears of it and flees to Egypt, the natural refuge for fugitives from Judah. c. The king sends Elnathan, son of Achbor, to lead a small military party to retrieve Uriah from Egypt. d. Because Judah and Jehoiakim were vassals to Egypt, extradition prevailed and Uriah was delivered into their hands. e. He was brought back to Jehoiakim and the king had him executed and dishonored via a common burial rather than a family sepulcher. f. He was denied due process of law and the right of burial with his ancestors. ii. 24 The source of Jeremiah s acquittal is revealed in a realistic context: 1. The narrator does not attribute the intervention or protection of YHWH, or the reference of Micah persuading the court, as the reason for Jeremiah not being executed. 2. The source is pinpointed as a prestigious member of the family of Shaphan: a. Ahikam was an official under Josiah and father of Gedaliah, the future governor of Judah under Nebuchadnezzar after the Fall of Jerusalem (586 BC). b. The Shaphan family was alarmed at the growing power of the king and its abuse. c. The rescue of Jeremiah was a human event guided by the hand of God. III. The Parable of the Potter 18:1-23 a. 1-12 The message gained from the potter: i. 1-4 The parable of the potter highlights the divine mystery of God s grace: 1. Probably near the Valley of Hinnom (south of Jerusalem) where water and clay were found. 2. The potter s wheel had two discs made of stone or wood set horizontally from each other. 3. The lower one was the smallest and used to spin the mechanism with the potter s feet and the larger upper one is the shaping wheel. 4. The potter notices a defect on the piece he was shaping and rolled it again into a ball and started shaping again. 3
5. The potter is in control of the clay and will reshape the clay until it is the way he wants it. ii. 5-10 The meaning of the object lesson: 1. 5-6 As the potter, God is sovereign over His clay. He will remake His marred people. 2. 7-10 Repentance can change the Lord s decree of judgment. a. Contains several if... if... then clauses. b. God can remake a penitent person into a vessel of honor. c. God orders all things that humanity may choose. d. This lesson neither affirms nor denies free choice. e. God reveals his rule over the nations and treats them with grace. f. God s repentance is not like man s; He is perfect and needs not repent. He does not change his mind but is consistent in His response according to His changeless nature to the change in the nation s conduct. If you... then I. iii. 11-12 God s call to repentance (11) and people s response (12): 1. The word preparing is the same Hebrew word for potter. 2. The people say it is too late. They condemn themselves. 3. Their obduracy shows the depth of their love for idolatry. b. 13-17 Judah refuses to depart from her own fickleness: i. 13 Even the nations around Judah attest to her revolting actions. 1. Her willingness to forsake the Lord was unprecedented in the ancient world. 2. The horror is heightened by calling her a virgin; she was hedged about by the Lord to protect her sanctity. 3. The virgin has done a most horrible deed when she should have been fully devoted to her husband. ii. 14 As the snow belongs in the mountain, Israel belongs to YHWH. No one ever heard of the snow leaving the peaks of the Lebanon mountains; neither has anyone heard of Israel leaving YHWH. 1. If the snow leaves the mountains it will melt. If Israel leaves God it will cease to be Israel. 2. The snow and cold running water are dependable, but Israel has proven herself fickle to the extreme. 3. Her conduct is fully unnatural. 4. Cold water does not evaporate quickly, neither does nature change its course; but Judah has proven to be unstable. iii. 15-17 Judah forgot God and will become a ruin. 1. When Judah forgets the way of God, she will also lose its life-giving capacity. 2. Forgetting God makes Judah vulnerable and humiliates her people. 4
3. They will experience the absence of God i.e. they will experience God s back 17. 4. Where God s face is not seen, His power is not available and death ensues. c. 18-23 A plot is contrived against Jeremiah: i. 18 The leaders cannot tolerate Jeremiah s strong preaching and decide to hound him to death. ii. Their opposition is revealed four ways: 1. Slandering him and turning a deaf ear to his words 18. 2. Digging a pit for his soul 20, 22. 3. Setting snares for his feet 22. 4. Planning to slay him 23. iii. The public leaders are adamant in maintaining status quo. 1. They re immune to the notion that this will lead to their exile/death. 2. They view Jeremiah as a disruption but fail to view YHWH, who sent Jeremiah, as the unavoidable disrupter. iv. 19-23 This section is known as Jeremiah s harshest and bitterest prayer for vengeance. 1. They re not just personal enemies, but also enemies of God and His truth. 2. Jeremiah delivers the people judicially to the course they have chosen for themselves. 3. The imprecations are not against the entire nation, only against his enemies. 4. A variety of deaths are mentioned for Judah s future 21. 5. No security in their own houses 22. 6. Jeremiah recognizes the depth of hatred toward him and their concealed plans have been laid bare 23. IV. What the text means to our society today: a. Society is growing more hostile to the truth and Christianity. Mike Huckabee said that Christianity is quickly becoming demonized and offensive to this society. It will soon become the enemy of the state. b. There is a growing majority moving away from Christianity and toward agnostic. c. Society is often judge, jury and executioner. It rarely awaits the facts about Christianity but listens to and follows the societal buzz. d. All societies are in the hands of God and He deals with them in both grace and judgment. e. God is patient, allowing nations the time to repent. f. God always responds to true repentance. g. Experiencing God s back is to incur His wrath. h. Enemies against God will be visited by their own enemies, sent by the Lord. 5
V. What the text means to me personally: a. When facing the hardest opposition, we must remain solid in the truth; always keeping in mind that we are to please God rather than man. b. In the worst of times, God will often send an encourager to rescue us from enemies and to encourage us to continue. c. Our families, ourselves, our churches and our nation are in the hand of God. We should pray in thanksgiving for His grace and patience in dealing with us. d. When I seek God with a penitent heart, I know that He will respond. e. God is pleased with our faithfulness and rewards accordingly. 6