Jer 11.1-23 talks about how the covenant was broken and how Jeremiah was to proclaim this fact. The people conspired to serve other gods and now a curse was coming upon the offenders. God is disappointed in their rejection of him, and Jeremiah learns of the many threats against him, and he returns to Yehovah for help. He promises to punish those who threaten him.
v 1…The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying,
v 2…”Hear the words of this covenant and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
v 3…and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant (the Torah-Deut 27.26)
v 4…which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace (Egypt is a type of Europe in prophecy where the iron furnaces of the Holocaust were-Deut 4.20), saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and do according to all which I commanded you; so you shall be my people, and I will be your God,’
v 5…in order to confirm the oath which I swore to your forefathers with milk and honey (an idiom meaning “uncultivated” or “devastated by war”-Isa 7.21-25), as it is this day.” Then I answered and said, “Amen, O Lord.”
v 6…And the Lord said to me, “Proclaim (publish) all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant (Torah) and do them.
v 7…For I solemnly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, warning persistently, saying, “Listen to my voice.”
v 8…Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant which I commanded them to do, but they did not (the curses beginning in Deut 28.15).'”
v 9…Then the Lord (Yehovah) said to me, “A conspiracy (a defection from the Torah, not a hasty impulse) has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
v 10…They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors (their sin was not confined to just that generation) who refused to hear my words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah (completely as a nation-Jer 30.10) have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers (at Sinai).”
v 11…Therefore thus says the Lord (Yehovah), “Behold I am bringing disaster (Babylon) on them which they will not be able to escape; though they will cry to me, yet I will not listen to them (Prov 28.9).
v 12…Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they surely will not save them in the time of their disaster (when Babylon comes and an allusion to the birth-pains in the future).
v 13…For your gods are as many as your cities, O Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal (who was also called “Boshet” or shame-Hos 9.10; 2 Sam 11.21).
v 14…Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry of prayer for them (no more intercession); for I will not listen when they call to me because of their disaster (1 John 5.16; Jer 14.11).
v 15…what right has my beloved (Israel is still his beloved) in my house (the land, Temple) when she has done many vile deeds (what caused this to begin with)? Can the sacrificial flesh (korbanot) take away from you your disaster (which is coming), so that you can rejoice (the answer is “No”)?
v 16…The Lord (Yehovah) called your name, a green olive tree (Psa 52.8; Rom 11.17; Hos 14.6), beautiful in fruit and form”; with the noise of a great tumult (great wind of the Babylonians) he has kindled fire (judgment) on it, and its branches are worthless (broken off).
v 17…And the Lord of hosts (Yehovah Tzavaot), who planted you (Isa 5.2) has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke me by offering sacrifices to Baal (this sin really moved Yehovah to act).
v 18…Moreover, the Lord made it known to me and I knew it; then thou didst show me their deeds (to kill him by showing him their plot -Jer 11.19-21).
v 19…But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter (he never suspected that there would be a time for him to be killed); and I did not know that they had devised a plot against me (to shut him up), “Let us destroy the tree (Jeremiah) with its fruit (his prophecies and doctrines that offended them-Matt 7.15-20), and let us cut him off from the land of the living (Israel), that his name be remembered no more (blot out his memory, but it didn’t happen because we are studying his book).”
v 20…But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the feelings (kidneys, the seat of emotion) and the heart (the seat of understanding, a Hebrew parallelism), let me see thy vengeance on them (left it in God’s hands).
v 21…Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth (the home of Jeremiah meaning affliction. His own family and priests there wanted to kill him-John 4.44; Psa 41.9) who seek your life, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord (Yehovah), that you might not die at our hand”;
v 22…therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, I am about to punish them (for trying to touch God’s anointed)! The young men will die by the sword, the sons and daughters will die by famine;
v 23…and a remnant will not be left to them (that plotted against him), for I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth-the year of their punishment (or visitation, the predestined time).”
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