- Prior to this recommitment to Jewish law, what is happening?
- The king of Babylon is attacking with great success
- The seventh year, the sabbatical year, was the year for canceling debts (Deut 15:12). It was not seven years from the agreement but rather a fixed year
- Why do the people (and possibly the king) renege on their agreement?
- Possibly, things have improved and they have forgotten their promise
- Jer 34:22 (NIV) I am going to give the order, declares the Lord, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take it and burn it down. And I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there."
- APPLICATION: We make promises to God when times are hard, and then we forget them when times are good. God calls that "profaning His name"
- This is the imagery of a covenant deal between two parties, much like the story of the Abrahamic covenant, except in that case only God walked between the dead animals. The picture is that, "I will be like these dead animals if I do not keep up my part of the agreement"
- APPLICATION:
- James 5:12 (NIV) Above all, my brothers, do not swear — not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned.
- When we say "yes," we should mean "yes." And if we need to say "no," we should say "no." Many people today use "maybe" to communicate "no, but I don't want to say it"
- This is during Jehoiakim's reign, after Babylon had started attacking (scholars suggest 601-602BC)
- The Recabites are descendants of the Kenite clan that descended from Jethro, Moses father-in-law
- What is the point of the exercise?
- The issue is not alcohol but obedience to a command
- Is it wrong to drink alchohol?
- God tells Jeremiah to bring them into the house of the Lord
- Even the instruction "drink some wine" suggests that there is nothing wrong with what is being proposed
- Who gave the order not to drink wine?
- Jonadab son of Recab -- not God
- If God had given it, then the emphasis would be on God's word and not what Jonadab said. Also, Jonadab seems to be at odds with the rest of the people (in behavior)
- Jonadab helped King Jehu purge Israel of Baal worship, 2 Ki 10:15-27 (Constable, 2010)
- What is God's point?
- The Recabites obeyed the forefather's rule (nearly 200 years)
- God was not endorsing legalism
- God was comparing Israel to the Recabites
- Comparison points (Constable, 2010)
- The Recabites obeyed a fallible leader; Judah's leader was the eternal God
- Jonadab gave his commands to the Recabites only once; God repeatedly sent his messages to his people
- The restrictions that bound the Recabites did not deal with eternal issues; God's messages to his people had eternal as well as temporal implications
- APPLICATON: A commitment to not drink or whatever the decision is neither right or wrong, but failing to follow through on a promise to God or a command from God is a serious issue. What is God telling me to do that I have still not obeyed him concerning?
- So this is still before God has declared "no turning back." There is still time to repent. The "broken pottery prophecy" has still not occurred
- A few weeks back I may have misspoke on another prophecy and the timing of it in relation to the "no turning back" point
- God specifically has the words written down and read out loud -- why?
- Lesson for later in history
- Elevates the importance of the message
- It is another medium for God to communicate
- Jeremiah had been restricted from the temple (36:5)
- APPLICATION: God uses many means to speak to us. What are some of the ways you have seen?
- The word (historically)
- The Holy Spirit (in our heart); peace or lack of peace
- Other's counsel
- Circumstances
- Why burn the scroll? In fact, why even listen to it, if you are going to burn it anyway?
- Burning suggests worthlessness, not worth saving, meaningless
- Listening suggest there might be truth and it is good to know what it says
- Notice the contrast to his father, Josiah when he scroll of the law read to him. Josiah tore his clothes in remorse (2 Kings 22:11-20)
- APPLICATION: We can ignore God's word, hide from his word, even try to destroy his word. But truth remains truth, and no action on our part is required to validate, nor can any action invalidate it. It is real simple. How do we respond to God's truth? Will we obey or not? Will we rebel? Will we stand up in defiance? Or will we humble ourselves, admit we are wrong, and obey God's word in our life?
- APPLICATION: This is also a picture of the Atheist today. They want to destroy God's word. But deep within them is the worry that what is said is really from God and is truth. But to believe that would require a change of lifestyle, so in defiance, they choose to exercise faith that there is no God
Jer
34:6-16 (NIV) Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to Zedekiah king of
Judah, in Jerusalem, 7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting
against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out —
Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.
8 The
word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant
with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves. 9
Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to
hold a fellow Jew in bondage. 10 So all the officials and people who entered
into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves
and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. 11 But
afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and
enslaved them again.
12
Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 "This is what the Lord,
the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I
brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I said, 14 'Every
seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has sold himself to
you. After he has served you six years, you must let him go free.' Your
fathers, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me. 15 Recently you
repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to
his countrymen. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my
Name. 16 But now you have turned around and profaned my name; each of you has
taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished.
You have forced them to become your slaves again.
Jer
34:18-20 (NIV) The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled
the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they
cut in two and then walked between its pieces. 19 The leaders of Judah and
Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who
walked between the pieces of the calf, 20 I will hand over to their enemies
who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the
air and the beasts of the earth.
Jer
35:1-16(NIV) This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the
reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: 2 "Go to the Recabite
family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the
Lord and give them wine to drink."
3 So I
went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his
brothers and all his sons — the whole family of the Recabites. 4 I brought
them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of
Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was
over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. 5 Then I set bowls full
of wine and some cups before the men of the Recabite family and said to them,
"Drink some wine."
6 But
they replied, "We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jonadab son
of Recab gave us this command: 'Neither you nor your descendants must ever
drink wine. 7 Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards;
you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then
you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.' 8 We have obeyed
everything our forefather Jonadab son of Recab commanded us. Neither we nor
our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine 9 or built houses to
live in or had vineyards, fields or crops. 10 We have lived in tents and have
fully obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab commanded us. 11 But when
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded this land, we said, 'Come, we must go
to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies.' So we have remained
in Jerusalem."
Jer
35:12-16 (NIV) Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 13
"This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the
men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, 'Will you not learn a lesson and
obey my words?' declares the Lord. 14 'Jonadab son of Recab ordered his sons
not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not
drink wine, because they obey their forefather's command. But I have spoken to
you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me. 15 Again and again I sent all
my servants the prophets to you. They said, "Each of you must turn from
your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve
them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your fathers."
But you have not paid attention or listened to me. 16 The descendants of
Jonadab son of Recab have carried out the command their forefather gave them,
but these people have not obeyed me.'
Jer
36:1-3 (NIV) In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this
word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 "Take a scroll and write on it all
the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other
nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now.
3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict
on them, each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their
wickedness and their sin."
Jer
36:20-26 (NIV) After they put the
scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the
courtyard and reported everything to him. 21 The king sent Jehudi to get the
scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read
it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. 22 It was the ninth
month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in
the firepot in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns
of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife and threw them into
the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24 The king and
all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear
their clothes. 25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king
not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 Instead, the king
commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah
son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the
Lord had hidden them.
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