#1060 Jeremiah 11 So be it, Lord

 

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant 4 that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, 5 that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, Lord.”

6 And the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

9 Again the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. 13 For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal.

14 “Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. 15 What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? 16 The Lord once called you ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. 17 The Lord of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.”

18 The Lord made it known to me and I knew;

then you showed me their deeds.

19 But I was like a gentle lamb

led to the slaughter.

I did not know it was against me

they devised schemes, saying,

“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,

let us cut him off from the land of the living,

that his name be remembered no more.”

20 But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously,

who tests the heart and the mind,

let me see your vengeance upon them,

for to you have I committed my cause.

21 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”— 22 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, 23 and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.” Jeremiah 11 ESV

Jeremiah 11 The Broken Covenant

…16And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” 18The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”… Genesis 2: 16-18

1-8. Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant - They were not going to be able to say, "I didn't read it, didn't hear it, plugged my ears, or closed my eyes, so it does not apply to me." It doesn't work that way, everyone is under the curse in Adam, all have been born into sin, have sinned and the wages of sin is death. 

11Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned. 13For sin was in the world before the law was given; but sin is not taken into account when there is no law.… Romans 5: 11-13

That I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt - He gave them the law which explained the reasons for death and man's guilt before a holy God. It was the message of do this and you shall live. They all agreed, but they didn't do. It is a very different thing with God then men, He is not experimenting with words when He talks, and if He says He will do something, in the realm of eternity it is already accomplished, even before we see it played out here in time and space. 

…3When Moses came and told the people all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all responded with one voice: “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.” 4And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5Then he sent out some young men of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.… Exodus 24: 3-5

…22Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “We are witnesses!” they said. 23“Now, therefore,” he said, “get rid of the foreign gods among you and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” 24So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.”…

…25On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance. 26Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was near the sanctuary of the LORD. 27And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone. It will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD has spoken to us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny your God.”… Joshua 24: 22-27

From the iron furnace - Egypt was a hot place as it was, but building bricks in the kilns as slave labor would be oppressive.

6That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen: 7“You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw. 8But require of them the same quota of bricks as before; do not reduce it. For they are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’… Exodus 5: 6-8

So be it Lord - Jeremiah's answer, His amen to what God had said both back then to His people and refreshing it in the mind of the prophet.

“There is a vast difference between the liturgical ‘Amen’ which is merely conventional, and which in the saying means nothing; and the Amen which comes out of the deep inner agreement of mind and heart and will with the purposes and methods of God.” (Morgan)

Obey My voice - Both Isaiah and Jeremiah preach a repentance that strips away mere ritualism.

9-13. A conspiracy exists - They probably would not have confessed it as such, or even thought of it in that matter, but they were going against the clear instruction of the Lord and leading others to do the same. Is it possible that our compromise leads to conspiracy? God says this is wrong so why do I sit around pondering ways to justify myself, to say it is okay, or covered in this instance? If I can just get others to agree with me. 

“So attractive were the depraved Canaanite fertility rites, and so widespread the resultant idolatry in Israel, that it appeared as though the people had deliberately plotted to renounce their covenantal obligations and espouse apostasy.” (Harrison)

For your gods have become as many as your cities - There was only one God, and in not reverencing Him as such then they did not worship Him in truth. He is not one of the gods of polytheist, to fall upon a long list, and whatever it is that is attractive about the other gods is sin.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; Exodus 20: 3-5

14-17. What right has my beloved in my house - She has broken the covenant, and should she still go on living with her husband when she has other lovers? Does He not have the right to show her the covenant and then the door?

Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom - They put a lot upon the sacrificial system, thinking it a covering for evil, like a busy confession booth at a Roman Catholic church. He is going to take the temple away, and the system that they placed faith in rather than the Creator that it pointed to. The blood of animals was not a substitute for obedience. Sunday morning is not the penance for Friday and Saturday night. They sinned flagrantly, it was a joke to them, they thought their rituals covered them.

…3Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me.… Hebrews 10: 3-5

18-23. But I was like a gentle lamb, led to slaughter - There was another conspiracy going on, and it involved the men of Anathoth, Jeremiah's own people.

…6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. 8By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people.… Isaiah 53: 6-8

Let us destroy the tree with its fruit - The men of his hometown wanted to kill him, to silence him, just like Christ. 

…6Finally, having one beloved son, he sent him to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 7But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8So they seized the son, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.… Mark 12: 6-8

That his name be remembered no more - They thought they could erase the memory of him, and they would not have any conviction over what he said. It is just words if they don't believe him, but why do they feel the need to take his life? It is like the Jews striking at the name of Jesus, to remove it from memory or cloud it's memory. His brothers and fellow Nazarenes treated Him much like the men of Anathoth treated Jeremiah. 

…39“Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were children of Abraham,” said Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham. 40But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing. 41You are doing the works of your father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they declared. “Our only Father is God Himself.”…

42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me. 43Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.… John 8: 39-44

…27And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. Yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 On hearing this, all the people in the synagogue were enraged. 29They got up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff.… Luke 4: 27-29

…3Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us as well?” And they took offense at Him. 4Then Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own household is a prophet without honor.” 5So He could not perform any miracles there, except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal them.… Mark 6: 3-5

Who test the heart and the mind - Jeremiah is turning judgment over to God. He can see all sides and inside the heart, and Jeremiah knows God will do what is most just. 

…34“Have I not stored up these things, sealed up within My vaults? 35Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.” 36For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.… Deuteronomy 32: 34-36

Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord - They wanted him to stop talking as though he were a prophet of God, and much of what he is saying is a continuance upon Isaiah's ministry. Isaiah was one of the prophets killed during Manasseh's reign, and there were false prophets and corrupt priests in both their times, that did not want a message that opposed theirs. Killing God's prophets won't make your message true. They wanted the people's ear, and the shame of it is that the people themselves could have compared what Jeremiah was saying to the Word of God they already had, and tested the false prophets in the same manner, but they loved the lie, yet that won't change the outcome.

For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth - Jeremiah doesn't have to worry, just keep on preaching, God will take care of these men.