Day 184: When God’s Sword Comes Out

Jeremiah 47:1-7

Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza.
Yahweh says:
“Behold, waters rise up out of the north,
and will become an overflowing stream,
and will overflow the land and all that is therein,
the city and those who dwell therein.
The men will cry,
and all the inhabitants of the land will wail.
At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones,
at the rushing of his chariots,
at the rumbling of his wheels,
the fathers don’t look back for their children
because their hands are so feeble,
because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains;
for Yahweh will destroy the Philistines,
the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.
Baldness has come on Gaza;
Ashkelon is brought to nothing.
You remnant of their valley,
how long will you cut yourself?

“ ‘You sword of Yahweh, how long will it be before you are quiet?
Put yourself back into your scabbard;
rest, and be still.’

“How can you be quiet,
since Yahweh has given you a command?
Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore,
there he has appointed it.”

Perhaps one of the reasons that Pharaoh was feeling so confident in his conquest of Babylon was that he had already fulfilled this prophesy. Here we read that God had decided to have Egypt conquer the Philistines, including Gaza, Caphtor and Ashkelon. God had decided to give Pharaoh that victory but it could have been that he thought that it was his own hand that won the battles.

When we read the past about the Philistines in the Bible, we learn that they were a rough people. They weren’t afraid to burn people they didn’t like in their own houses. They were the ones who fought using the giant Goliath and who captured Samson, but here we read that they were to become so weak that the men wouldn’t have the strength to go back and save their own children. It’s clear that the Philistines didn’t think they needed God either and were usually quite willing to attack Israel and enslave them if possible. For a portion of Israel’s past, the Philistines were the ones in charge.

It’s kind of strange to have a prophet talk to God’s sword and ask when it is going to stop, and tell it to go back into its sheath. Jeremiah also asks the sword how it can be quiet when God has commanded it to attack. Perhaps the battle went on and on until the Philistines were finally destroyed. If I were in the area, I might be asking the same thing. It’s not unusual for us to ask God when He is going to relieve us of our pain, but the problem we see here is that neither Egypt or the Philistines were willing to respect God’s word. When people look to their own understanding of things instead of trusting in God’s word, they can expect God’s sword to eventually come out and bring the justice they deserve.

Day 183: Why Israel and Egypt?

Jeremiah 46:25-28

Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of old,” says Yahweh.
“But don’t you be afraid, Jacob my servant.
Don’t be dismayed, Israel;
for, behold, I will save you from afar,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return,
and will be quiet and at ease.
No one will make him afraid.
Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says Yahweh,
“for I am with you;
for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you,
but I will not make a full end of you,
but I will correct you in measure,
and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

One of the interesting things that I see in this passage is that God intended for Egypt to be “inhabited, as in the days of old.” His prophesy against Egypt was not permanent and God makes a small statement about that here. Then, God goes on to reassure His people Israel for the rest of this passage.

There is an interesting contrast between Israel and Egypt, and Babylon. God promises that both Israel and Egypt will rise again, and also says to Israel: “I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you.” God says that His punishments against Israel are measured, or have a limit. I think that this spells out the difference between how God disciplines His children and how He disciplines those who aren’t. God’s children will only be punished for a limited period of time. Those who are outside of God’s family will be destroyed forever. This brings up an important question.

What did Israel and Egypt do to deserve to continue to exist? It is obvious that they both were filled with evil. Israel had been sacrificing their own children. Egypt was worshiping everything under the sun and encouraging God’s people to do the same. How is it that they were allowed to continue to exist? Perhaps the easy way to answer this question is to point it at ourselves. Why did God allow you and I to exist as Christians? What did we do to deserve it? I hope that the answer is obvious: we didn’t do anything to deserve it and neither did Israel or Egypt. The reason they were saved is the same reason you and I were saved. God simply decided to do it. When God does things like this, it removes all pride doesn’t it? It also builds a living demonstration of His grace. Both Israel and Egypt stand today as examples of what happens when God decides to save.

Day 179: Willfully Ignorant

Jeremiah 46:1-6

Yahweh’s word which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.
“Prepare the buckler and shield,
and draw near to battle!
Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen,
and stand up with your helmets.
Polish the spears,
put on the coats of mail.
Why have I seen it?
They are dismayed and are turned backward.
Their mighty ones are beaten down,
have fled in haste,
and don’t look back.
Terror is on every side,”
says Yahweh.
“Don’t let the swift flee away,
nor the mighty man escape.
In the north by the river Euphrates
they have stumbled and fallen.

At this point, Jeremiah records his revelation concerning a battle that happened earlier in Egypt. One of the things that surprised me is that this battle was lost before Babylon took Judah into captivity. We just read that the remnant that decided to go to Egypt, went there later because they thought that they would be safe there. Here we can see that they weren’t even taking the historical facts into account. Pharaoh Necoh had already been defeated in a battle with the very same king of Babylon some time earlier. If Egypt’s gods were helping them, they weren’t doing a very good job.

Another thing that this tells us is that the people should have known to listen to Jeremiah’s words and not doubt them. The way that they were to determine if a prophet was from God was to look at his resume. Jeremiah had not only predicted the fall of Jerusalem, but he had also predicted the defeat of Pharaoh Necoh. This demonstrates how completely irrationally the remnant of Judah was acting. Not only did they have to ignore the fact that Jeremiah was never wrong about any of his predictions, but that Egypt was not even a safe place based on historical losses to Babylon. To top it all off, the queen of the sky was clearly unable to help anyone.

One thing that we should be aware of as Christians is that the Bible teaches that people are willfully ignorant of God. They actually know God in their minds but they refuse to recognize Him. They actually suppress the truth in an effort to rebel against God and do what they want to do. All of the reasoning and explaining in the world can’t help a person who has decided to rebel against God. God may use us like Jeremiah to tell them the truth, but the only way that they will actually change their minds and repent, is for God to bring about that change. We cannot do it.

Day 178: Dream Big

Jeremiah 45:1-5

The message that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: ‘You said, “Woe is me now! For Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain! I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.” ’

“You shall tell him, Yahweh says: ‘Behold, that which I have built, I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole land. Do you seek great things for yourself? Don’t seek them; for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh,’ says Yahweh, ‘but I will let you escape with your life wherever you go.’ ”

This part of Jeremiah feels like reading the appendix of a book. Here, we jump back to and get some detail about an event that happened between Jeremiah and Baruch. Those who chose to add chapter divisions to the Bible, made this passage into its own chapter. It does appear to be naturally separated from the rest of the book. So, what does God want us to learn from it?

It appears that this happened at the time that Jeremiah was commanded by God to write down God’s message. It appears that when the Baruch the scribe who was writing down the message heard what he was supposed to do, he was filled with anxiety. If you go back and look at chapter 36, when these events happened, you can see that God expected Baruch to not only write down the words but to read them to the leadership. Then both he and Jeremiah were forced to run and hide. God was telling Baruch that he was to become unpopular by simply obeying God. Baruch was the messenger that people would want to kill simply for writing down and reading God’s word! It would appear that this didn’t sit very well with Baruch. I think that this would probably be a challenge for many Americans today as well. Baruch was obviously trained for a special occupation. It appears that he could read and write better than his own leaders could. His career was about to be ruined by simply obeying God’s command. To be honest, I think I would have been pretty disappointed myself. What hope did he have left in his career? How was he supposed to retire?

God asked Baruch a question that I have to ask myself. “Do you seek great things for yourself?” Isn’t that what Americans are supposed to do? God says this to Baruch: “Don’t seek them; for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh.” To put this in a different light. Suppose I turned 30 in 1928. The stock market was about to crash and the great depression was about to happen followed by a second world war. Let’s say that God decided to tell me all about it in advance. I would feel like my life was about to be ruined in that case too. God is telling us to not place our hope in our lives here in this world. He’s also comforting us by telling us that He can save our lives even through hard times, but we may not get much more than that as the world is being punished for its sin. It can actually be a danger for us to “dream big” in this life. What we need to do is to obey what Jesus said and store up our treasure in Heaven. It may seem like God is telling Baruch to not dream big, but Jesus came and told us the opposite. He said that if we give up good things in this life, we will get 100 times more and experience eternal life. May God help us to see this more clearly so that we can truly experience joy in our lives today and stop worrying about what is happening in our world.

Day 165: Jeremiah Goes Back to Judah

Jeremiah 40:1-6

The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were carried away captive to Babylon. The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “Yahweh your God pronounced this evil on this place; and Yahweh has brought it, and done according as he spoke. Because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing has come on you. Now, behold, I release you today from the chains which are on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will take care of you; but if it seems bad to you to come with me into Babylon, don’t. Behold, all the land is before you. Where it seems good and right to you to go, there go.” Now while he had not yet gone back, “Go back then,” he said, “to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wherever it seems right to you to go.”

So the captain of the guard gave him food and a present, and let him go. Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

One of the things that really strikes me about this passage is the fact that Babylon’s captain of the guard, Nebuzaradan, was so aware of God. He knew that the reason that Babylon had taken Judah in battle was because the God of all Heaven was punishing them. It appears that the Babylonians were paying closer attention to the Bible than Judah was. Isn’t that interesting? It’s possible for the religious to get so caught up in their religion that they fail to listen to and believe in the Bible. It is also possible for those who are completely un-religious to hear what the Bible says and change their lives because of it.

It would also appear that Jeremiah was actually popular with the king in Babylon. I’ve noticed that this is true in countries that actually have leadership that believes in the Bible. Crossing the boarder can be a life-changing experience. When the leadership of a country becomes anti-Bible, people like Jeremiah are hated, but when the leadership is pro-Bible, people like Jeremiah are treated with great respect.

Jeremiah was bound with all of the other captives at first but later was unbound and given freedom to go wherever he wanted to go. Isn’t that amazing? The captain actually said to Jeremiah: “Behold, all the land is before you. Where it seems good and right to you to go, there go.” This is the freedom that a true believer in God is supposed to have. In this world, it is rarely given, but there are times when God allows His will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

So, with food and a present given to him by Babylon, Jeremiah chose to go back to live with the poor people who were left behind in Judah. Not long before this time, Jeremiah was wondering if he would be left to die in well of mud but in the end Jeremiah was given freedom by God to stay in the land and live with his people. It’s pretty revealing that Jeremiah chose to stay in Judah. The country was destroyed now and very depressing. It would have been a pretty good deal to be living off of the government in Babylon where things were probably much nicer. It stands as a testimony to the heart of Jeremiah. He never wanted his people to leave the land, and neither did God. God’s heart was in Judah and Jeremiah represented the heart of God in his decision.

Day 162: Judgment Day

Jeremiah 39:1-10

In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. All the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate: Nergal Sharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon. When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled and went out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah.

But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. When they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment on him. Then the king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons in Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the people’s houses with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters also who fell away to him, and the rest of the people who remained. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

Just as God had spoken through Jeremiah, His judgment against Judah finally came. Zedekiah tried to run but ended up watching the murder of his sons before his eyes were removed. It’s tragic when you consider that he came so close to seeing God’s mercy instead. If he had simply believed Jeremiah when he begged him to surrender, he would have saved his sons, the people and the city.

Isn’t it amazing how much humans long to get away with sin? When punishment doesn’t come for a long time, we actually start to think that it will never come. We create what we think is a “new normal.” There is only one “normal” and it is the one that God considers to be normal. The only reason God had given them so much time was because He wanted them to repent and that’s the same way it is today. Back at that time, the issue was the destruction of God’s city, but what we face today is the destruction of the entire earth. It is coming. What is happing today isn’t the “new normal.” God’s just giving us time to repent before the time comes for Him to blow it all up and send sinners to their chosen destiny. Man-made global warming climate change is coming. It will happen when God burns up the earth as a result of man’s rebellion against Him. We are ruining the environment by our lies, murders, sexual sin and drug use.

There’s a precious surprise at the end of this part of Israel’s history. After burning the palace and the city, the captain of the guard of Babylon, decided to take the average people into custody and to leave the destitute people behind. Not only that, he gave them tillable land! God helped the poor even in this horrible time and gave them what they needed. God must have felt their pain the whole time. Notice that it is God’s will to give to the poor. I think it’s pretty obvious that God was paying attention to how these destitute people were being treated and turned the tables in His judgment. May God give us the heart to give to those who are in need before we lose everything we have to our own selfishness.

Day 148: Oppression, Lies and God’s Judgment

Jeremiah 34:8-22

The word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, that no one should make bondservants of them, of a Jew his brother. All the princes and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant and everyone his female servant go free, that no one should make bondservants of them any more. They obeyed and let them go, but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

Therefore Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying: At the end of seven years, every man of you shall release his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years. You shall let him go free from you. But your fathers didn’t listen to me, and didn’t incline their ear. You had now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor. You had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name; but you turned and profaned my name, and every man caused his servant and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return. You brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.’ ”

Therefore Yahweh says: “You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty,” says Yahweh, “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. I will make you be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts: the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf. I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.

“I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their life and into the hands of the king of Babylon’s army, who has gone away from you. Behold, I will command,” says Yahweh, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

This is a long passage today but I think it’s important to allow God to tell us what He thinks about this specific situation. God had required Israel to free all of its slaves every seven years. Obviously, they hadn’t been doing that and when they finally decided to do it, they took another oath before God to do so. Then, after freeing the slaves, they went back on their word and forced them into slavery again. Can you imagine the suffering those slaves must have felt to have had a false sense of freedom only to have it taken away?

I know that God felt the pain of those slaves, but even more than that, God had His own pain. His people not only broke the law, they made an oath before God and broke it again. To say that God was mad is to put it mildly. Notice what God says in His judgment. He tells them: “I proclaim to you a liberty” and then He describes the fact that He intends to make them sick, put them in slavery and kill them and make them bird feed. He simply gave them the freedom that they had given their own slaves and punished them for their violation of the law and their oaths.

As you can see, God hates slavery, oppression and lies. We read here that they tend to go together. We can also see that whoever does these things will not get away with them.