Search The Scriptures —Study 28 — Jeremiah 42 and 43

Study 28 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 42 and 43

1.     It is clear that the remnant of the people left in the land were obsessed by fear-fear of the Chaldeans (42:11) and fear of famine (42:16).  From both these evils Egypt appeared to offer a secure place of refuge (42:14). But, what did God say they ought to do? And what did He say would happen to them if they went to Egypt?

2.     Why did the people, in spite of their promise to obey God, take a wrong course? What did they lack spiritually that they failed to badly? Read carefully 42:20, 21 (see note 1 below), and cf. Mt.15:7, 8, Heb. 3:18, 19. What does this teach us about our attitude in seeking to know the will of God? Note 42:6. Are we guilty of making up our mind in advance? Cf. 43:2.

3.     Over against the people and their failure contrast the character of Jeremiah. God had made the same promise to him that He now made to these Hebrews (see 1:18, 19); but how different was the response in Jeremiah’s case?  What are the outstanding features that you observe in Jeremiah in these chapters?

Notes

1.     42:21. Jeremiah anticipates the reply they were about to make in their fixed resolve to seek refuge in Egypt. Perhaps during the interval (verse 7) preparations for flight had been in hand.

2.     43:7.’Tahpanhes’ was on the eastern branch of the Nile not far from the Mediterranean.

3.     43: 10-13. Nebuchadrezzar did invade Egypt before two decades were out.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 27 — Jeremiah 39-41

Study 27 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 39-41

The fall of Jerusalem and the events immediately following.

1.     What message did Jeremiah give to Ebed-melech, and why? Cf. Mt. 10:40-42. Is your faith equally practical? Cf. Jas.  2:21-24.

2.     Note Carefully 40:2-3. Could the matter be better summed up than in these words of a heathen officer? Cf. Pr.29:1; Is. 30:9-14.

3.     Most Christians are too ready to believe evil of others. Gedaliah was the opposite. What can we learn from this example?

Notes

1.     39:3. ‘Rabsaris’ means chief of the princes; and ‘Rabmag’, chief of the magi.

2.     39:4. ‘Between the two walls’: i.e., of the city, probably ‘the wall along the west side of the east hill, and along the east side of the west hill’ (Driver).

3.     39:5. ‘Riblah’: in the far north, fifty miles south of Hannath.

4.     41:1. Ishmael was probably jealous that Gedaliah had been appointed governor, and sought to get the remnant of the Jews under his control (41:10).

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Search The Scriptures —Study 26 — Jeremiah 37 and 38

Study 26 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 37 and 38

Although Egypt had been decisively defeated by the armies of Babylon at Carchemish twenty years before (46:2), now a new king had arisen in Egypt who sought to oppose Nebuchadrezzar’s south advance. He sent an army, while Nebuchadrezzar was besieging Jerusalem, whose approach forced the Chaldeans to raise the siege.  This excited great hope, but Jeremiah was not deceived. The Chaldeans, he said, would come back and burn the city with fire.

1.     How do these tow attests of Jeremiah illustrate 1:18, 19? His arrest seems to have contributed to his safety (37:21). Should we expect to find God’s goodness in our hardest experiences? Cf. Ps. 23:4; Acts 27:21-25.

2.     Which do you think were harder to beat-the physical, sufferings or the reproaches hurled at him? Why did he not keep silent and so escape censure? See 20:7-11; Acts 4:18-20; 5:29.

3.     What can we learn from the character of Zedekiah as revealed in these chapters? Cf. Pr. 29:25a; Jas. 1:8.

Note. 37:12. ‘To take over some property among his own people’

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Search The Scriptures —Study 25 — Jeremiah 36

Study 25 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 36

1.     The events of this chapter cannot have been very long after those of chapter 26. (compare the dating in verse 1 with 26:1) God in His compassion bids Jeremiah make one more appeal. In what respects does it differ from that of Chapter 26 (a) in its content, (b) in the manner of its delivery, and (c) in its outcome?

2.     Why do you think the princes felt they must tell the king (verse 16)? Was it to get Jeremiah silenced (cf. Am. 7:10-13), or in the hope that the king might hearken to God’s word, as Josiah had done (2. Ki. 22:10, 11)? With verse 24, cf. Is. 66:2. Do you have the impression that this was a fateful moment for the nation, and that very much depended on the king’s action? Are there comparable decisions in your life?

3.     Compare verses 19 and 26. How do I describe a successful action or activity or my own?

Notes

1.     Verse 5: ‘I am debarred’: perhaps because of the fear of his causing a disturbance (cf. the impact of his Temple sermon in chapter 26), or perhaps because of some ceremonial defilement.

2.     Verse 8.  This verse sums up in brief the story of the following verses. Note form verses 1 and 9 the time taken to complete scroll. The incident of chapter 45 falls between verses 8, 9.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 24 — Jeremiah 35

Study 24 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 35

The Rechabites were a small class of sect who regarded Jonadab (cf. 2. Ki. 10:15) as their father or founder, and had received a charge from him to abstain from wine, from settled dwellings and from agriculture, i.e., the marks of a settled civilization. They normally lived a normal life, but in fear of the advance of the armies of the north, they had taken refuge in Jerusalem.

1.     What test did Jeremiah, at God’s command, apply to the Rechabites? And what message did God then give him to take to the people of Jerusalem?

2.     Verses 13-17. Consider the frequency of this complaint: see 7:13, 25, 26; 25: 3, 4, 7; 26:4, 5; 29:19; 44:4. Are you careful to heed God’s word to you, e.g., through teachers and preachers?

3.     What traits of the Rechabites should be the distinguishing features of Christians today? Cf. Mt. 24:12, 13; Heb. 10:36, 38, 39.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 23 — Jeremiah 34

Study 23 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 34

Two incidents that occurred during the siege of Jerusalem at the end of Zedekiah’s reign.

1.     Nebuchadrezzar doubtless thought that he, with his numerous and powerful force (verse 1), was master of the situation.  But, who is revealed here as the controlling power, deciding the fate of cities and kings? Cf. Is. 40:15, 17, 21-24; Lk. 3:1, 2.

2.     Why was the failure to go through with the freeing of the slaves so severely condemned? Cf. @c. 5:4, 5; Mt. 7:21; 21:28-31a; Lk. 9:62. With verse 17, cf. 22:16. Do I owe some promised obedience which has not yet been performed.

Notes

1.     Verses 2-5. Cf. 32:3-5; 52:11.

2.     Verse 14. Cf. Dt. 15:12-15.

3.     Verse 17. ‘Liberty to the sword’: i.e., freedom to be destroyed by conquest.

4.     Verses 18, 19. The ceremony of the covenant of repentance (verse 15) included the participants’ passing between the parts of a calf which had been cut in two (cf. Gn. 15:7-18). By such ritual, they asked to be put to death in a similar violent manner, if they failed to keep their promise. See verse 20.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 22 — Jeremiah 32 and 33

Study 22 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 32 and 33

1.     What was Jeremiah’s response to God’s command to purchase land (a) immediately (32:9-12) and (b) subsequently (32: 16-25)?  What has this to teach us when faced by perplexities of Christian obedience? What was God’s answer to Jeremiah’s prayer? What was the significance of his being commanded to buy land at such a time?

2.     What blessings are promised in chapter 33? Which of them are for us also under the new covenant? E.g., with 33:3, cf. Eph. 1:17-19a; 1 Cor. 2:9, 10.

Note. 33:1. ‘The court of the guard’: Jeremiah’s friends would be able to visit him, but he would not go outside the court.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 21 — Jeremiah 31: 27- 40

Study 21 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 31: 27 – 40

1.     Verses 31-34. If Israel has broken the covenant between herself and the Lord, how can there be any future blessing for her? What is God’s answer to this question? Note the four occurrences of ‘says the Lord’, and the repeated use of ‘I’. Cf. Jn. 15:5c.

2.     What four features of the new covenant are set forth in 31:33, 34? With verse 33, cf. Ex. 31:18; 2 Cor.3:6; and with verse 34 contrast Ex. 20:19. See Heb. 8:3-13 and 10:14-22 for the fulfilment in Christ.

3.     Verses 35-40. How do these verses show the certainty and completeness of the restoration? See Note on verses 39, 40. Cf. 33:20-22.

Notes

1.     Verse 28. Cf. 1:10-12.

2.     Verses 29, 30. It appears likely that among the exiles, the proverb of verse 29 was being quoted as if they, the innocent, were suffering for their parents ’sins. Part of the new order will be the certain accountability of every individual to God personally.

3.     Verse 34. The writer to the Hebrews, in quoting this passage, follow the Lxx. See Heb. 8:9.

4.     Verse 34. The word ‘know’ is used here not of intellectual knowledge, but of personal intimacy.

5.     Verses 39, 40. The localities Gareb are not now known. The ‘valley of the dead bodies’ is the valley of Hinmon. The meaning is that in the new city all shall be holy.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 20 — Jeremiah 30:1- 31:26

Study 20 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 30:1 – 31: 26

This passage forms part of a group of prophecies. It was a time of darkness and despair and Jeremiah himself apparently derived much comfort from the message (31:26).

1.     This passage falls into sections which are all variants of the one theme, that after judgment will come restoration. See 30:1-3, 4-11, 12:22, 23, 24; 31:1-9, 10-14, 15-20, 21-22, 23-25. What are the blessings promised?

2.     To what extent have these blessings been fulfilled? Observe that they are spoken of northern Israel as well as of Judah (30:4; 31:1). Cf. Rom. 11:25-27.

3.     Meditate on the greatness of the blessings here promised as fully realized only in Christ.  Cf. Jn. 7:37, 38; 15:9-11; 16:27.

Notes

1.     30:14. ‘All your lovers’: i.e., the nations with whom Israel has sought alliance. Cf., verse 17b.

2.     31:2. ‘The wilderness’: here denoting the place of exile.

3.     31:15. ‘Rachel is weeping for her children’: a graphic picture of the sorrows of the exile. Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, is depicted weeping in her grave, which was near Ramah, as the exiles pass by. Cf. 40:1; also Mt. 2:17, 18.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 19 — Jeremiah 29

Study 19 From the Book of Jeremiah is: Jeremiah 29

Those who had been carried into exile in the first captivity under Jehoiachin (2 Ki. 24:14-16) were being made restless by prophets who prophesied falsely that they would soon be set free. Jeremiah therefore wrote a letter to them declaring that the exile would last seventy years.

1.     What as revealed to Jeremiah, were the Lord’s thoughts (a) towards the exiles in Babylon, and (b) towards Zedekiah and those who remained in Jerusalem? With verse 17, cf. Chapter 24.

2.     Verses 10-14. What is God’s doing and what man’s in the promised restoration?  Note the divine initiative and sovereignty throughout this chapter, and indeed throughout the book.  Note also how its benefits are to be enjoyed.

3.     What three prophets are mentioned by name by Jeremiah? What accusations did he bring against them, and what judgment did he pronounce upon them?

Notes

1.     Verse 24. ‘Shemaiah’: that he, too was a prophet is seen from verse 31.

2.     Verse 25. ‘Zephaniah’: probably the same as the Zephaniah who in 52:24 is called ‘the second priest’. i.e., second to the high priest. Cf. 21:1

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