Tanak foundations-Concepts in Jeremiah-Chapter 21

Jer 21.1-14 contains Jeremiah’s reply to a message by King Zedekiah. He reiterates that the city will be destroyed and gives his counsel as to what the king and the people should do. The names of the persons sent to Jeremiah are also mentioned.

v 1…The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashur the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah (who will die in Jer 52.27), saying,

v 2…”Please inquire if the Lord (Yehovah) on our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is warring against us; perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all his wonderful acts, that the enemy may withdraw from us (like Sennacherib did years before).”

v 3…Then Jeremiah said to them, “You shall say to Zedekiah as follows:

v 4…’Thus says the Lord God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands, with which you are warring against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I shall gather them into the center of this city (Yehovah not only refused to aid Judah, but he is going to help the Babylonians).

v 5…And I myself shall war against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, even in anger (fury) and wrath and great indignation.

v 6…I shall also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence (animals are linked to man and our sins-Rom 8.28).

v 7…Then afterwards (their death),” declares the Lord. “I shall give over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who survive in the city from the pestilence, the sword, and the famine, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their foes, and into the hand of those who seek their lives; and he will strike them down with the edge of the sword (like Zedekiah’s sons). He will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion.”

v 8…”You shall also say to this people, ‘Thus say the Lord, “Behold (see, take note of), I set before you the way of life and the way of death (similar to what is set out before us in the Basar).

v 9…He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as a booty (they had to go out to Nebuchadnezzar by faith in the word of the Lord through Jeremiah to come out of this alive and it is the same with us. We must surrender to the Lord by faith in order to come out of this life alive).

v 10…For I have set my face (in determination) against this city for harm and not for good,” declares the Lord (Yehovah). “It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire (the message of Jeremiah is surrender and live. If you fight in your own strength against God’s word and you will die. They may hold off for awhile but in the end, the enemy is coming into the city to get them. Again, Nebuchadnezzar is a picture of Yehovah here, the King of Kings, who has the power of life and death as in Jer 27.11-17, 38.17; 2 Kings 25.22. We sin and there is nothing we can do to save ourselves in spite of our defenses, so we must surrender and put our faith and trust in the word of the Lord who could destroy us in a second-Luke 17.33).”

v 11…”Then say to the household of the king of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord,

v 12…O house of David (this was to remind the kings who they descended from. They needed to be like him and do the right thing), thus says the Lord: “Administer justice every morning (early) and deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of the oppressor, that my wrath may not go forth in fire and burn with none to extinguish it, because of the evil of their deeds.

v 13…Behold (see for yourself), I am against you, O valley dweller, O rocky plain (a description of Jerusalem),” declares the Lord, “You men who say, ‘Who will come down against us? Or who will enter into our habitations (they thought they were impregnable)?’

v 14…But I shall punish you according to the results (or fruit; good intentions is not good enough) of your deeds,” declares the the Lord, “And I shall kindle a fire (judge) in its forest (the houses made of wood and stood together as thick as a forest) that it may devour all its environs (the surrounding cities and towns; this is not what they wanted to hear).”

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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