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Jeremiah 25-27
We are in the Prophetic Stream and Jeremiah delivers more of God’s judgments. We are reading from The Message this week.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Lord Jesus, help us and teach us to be people who are steadfast. Amen.
25 – The year of this chapter being written is 604 B.C. It was 7 years until the first captives would be taken from Judah to Babylon. Jeremiah gets a revelation that the captivity; it’s duration would be 70 years. And of course this is going to happen because the people have refused to listen to the prophets God has sent to them – all of them. The “time is up”. The party is over and God is going to turn Judah into a wasteland. He is actually calling down Babylon to do the dirty work. And of course, when Babylon is finished with this task, Babylon itself will be overtaken. So they aren’t going to be getting any medals from God for their work once they have flattened Judah.
Then the chapter goes into a “while we’re at it…” tone. God is putting many nations on trial. Egypt, Ammonites, the Medes, etc. and more. The massacre for pagan living and behavior is going to be vast. This is going to be ‘good news’ for no one. The dead bodies will be so numerous that they will be basically reduced to the category of fertilizer.
26 -is written for the purpose of reminding us, as we read, about how much danger Jeremiah was in. He is ordered to go straight into the Temple courtyard and preach a hot streak of rebuke against the priests of the Temple who were altogether derelict in their duty. Jeremiah was told vehemently to his face that he was going to die for talking the way he was talking – rather preaching the way he was preaching. He is rushed by the mob, arrested, and a spirited trial ensues. Jeremiah is surprisingly let go. The final comments of that trial are impressive.
The similar incident surrounding another prophet named Uriah (not Bathshebah’s husband, btw)
ended quite differently. He preached in Jerusalem, was threatened, then fled to Egypt. He was retrieved, brought back to Jerusalem and killed for his preaching. Again, the Bible lets us know this part of the story just to remind us the price that could have been exacted upon Jeremiah. It reminds us of Hebrews 11: “…they faced death all day long…”
27 – It is the final decade before Babylon is going to storm in and decimate anyone who fights back against them. And Jeremiah is told to put on a yoke, like what a beast of burden wears to pull a plow, and walk around Jerusalem telling them that this yoke is what is going to happen to all of you. You will be put in a yoke by Babylon. Do not fight this – or you will be killed in any number of ways. Even the King Zedekiah is urged to do this so that he may live. Meanwhile the false prophets are crooning about how good times are coming, so don’t listen to Jeremiah’s blah blah blah, the stolen articles will be returned shortly, so, be well and be happy for things are fine. Of course they are lying like dogs on rugs and Jeremiah calls them on it.
!!!!!!–> Oh my the events that were coming. We’ll tell you next week about how this issue of Jeremiah wearing a yoke around town ends up. You can read ahead if you wish. In this case reading ahead isn’t cheating – it’s encouraged 🙂
