Jeremiah 4-5

Jeremiah 4

Verse 4: Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done--burn with no one to quench it.

• The circumcision spoken of here is inward, which is interesting since I was under the impression that most Old Testament references would have have been to the physical act. The verse in Deuteronomy (10:16) also shatters my assumption. And as I would have thought, the Romans passage (2:28-29) refers to circumsision as an inward act.
• The inward act is related to the heart & ourselves. We should submit our will to God's.
• The wrath of the LORD is mentioned as well. This wrath will occur, but in reading Zephaniah 2:2, it is apparent that people who consider themselves God's people should seek him now so that we might be spared.

Verse 10: Then I said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, how completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, 'You will have peace', when the sword is at our throats."

• God deceives? This is a challenging notion. Reading 2 Thessalonians 2:11, it appears that this deception comes as a result of the peoples' worldly appetites. It almost seems as though the people deceive themselves by what the LORD is saying to them due to their annebriated & sinful state. They don't even realize what they are doing or the consequences of such actions.

Verse 22: My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.

• This is very true today, and it's a main reason why God had to send His son as a sacrifice for our inability to do good & our propensity for doing evil.

Chapter 5

Verse 7: Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.

• The continued references to idols & adultery give us an idea of how the LORD views our disobedience. We don't really have idols today that are physical like the ones of gold, silver, or wood that were back then, but we do have idolotrous behavior. We still fall to our sinful desires.
• God still fulfills our needs, but we still chase after un-Godly pursuits. Why do we do this? Can't we see that God is sufficient? I pray that I would continue to find this out.

Verse 19: And when the people ask, "Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?" you will tell them, "As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.

• Given the Middle East issues that are going on and have been going on for so long, this verse is certainly prophetic. The land ownership uncertainty the Jews have undergone & the constant upheaval they've been under from their neighbors are a couple of related points in this verse.

Jeremiah 1-3

Chapter 1

-Jeremiah's hometown of Anathoth was located about 3 miles north of Jerusalem in Palestine.
-Josiah, Jehoiakim, & Zedekiah all reigned as King of Judah at one time or another during the book's writing.
-It led up to the people of Jerusalem's exile.

Chapter 1, verse 5: Before I formed you in the wombe I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

• A conversation between Jeremiah & the LORD begins here with Jeremiah stating that he's only a child, & the LORD stating he need not talk like that, not to be afraid, and the LORD's appointment of Jeremiah as a prophet & one who is to deliver His words as he is instructed.
• The LORD then tells Jeremiah about the judgment Judah is about to face from foreign kings & nations, and that these judgments are being carried out due to Judah's idolotry.
• The LORD then informs Jeremiah that he shouldn't be terrified by the prospect of warning God's people. The LORD promises to remain with Jeremiah & to rescue him from harm.

Chapter 2

Verses 2-3: I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty and disaster overtook them, declares the LORD.

• The words of the LORD were a look back at the faithfulness Judah had shown to God & how He protected them from foreign enemies.
• The LORD uses the illustration of marriage to describe this faithfulness.

Verse 6: They did not ask, "Where is the LORD who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?

• Here God is dismayed by Judah's newly found self-sufficiency. He speaks of where He has had such a huge hand in delivering them from difficult trials.

Verse 8: The priests did not ask, "Where is the LORD?" Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.

• Here, even those who were supposed to be Spiritual Leaders among the community are exposed for their failings & decision not to call on God.
• The leaders appear to have gotten what they wanted from God: recongnition, power, & prestige from their God-ordained titles.

Verse 19: Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD you God and have no awe of me, declares the LORD.

• God lets His people know that their abandonment of Him will result in punishment.
• It's also interesting that He remarks that they "have no awe" of Him. I'm afraid we fall into this quite often. The lack of reverence I sometimes display would be stunning if I were to look back at some of my interactions with God. He's the Creator of the universe & our LORD & SAVIOR, but sometimes it almost seems like we who purport to believe this really don't. Father God, please forgive me for my disrespect of You.

Verse 20: Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, "I will not serve you!" Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.

• Just a quick note about this: What does the yoke mean in this regard given the context of Jesus' words that His yoke is easy?

Verse 27: They say to wood, "You are my father," and to stone, "You gave me birth." They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, "Come and save us!"

• Undoubtedly, we are all guilty of this. It's amazing how reluctant I am to think of God, much less pray to Him when things are going well. Then upon the first inkling of trouble where it involves personal agony (usually due to embarrassment), I call on Him to keep my actions hidden.
• I believe also that a distinction must be made between calling on the LORD when the trouble that prompts the prayer is related to temptation vs. when it is related to prideful deception.

Chapter 3:

Verse 3: Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.

• Entanglement in sin causes the sinner to rationalize or even to put off the behavior so that any guilt might not take hold during the act.
• I believe these entanglements, especially for believers, can be looked at as Satanic attacks. We must pray continually in order to combat these attacks, and we must recognize that these attacks exist.

Verse 11: The LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah."

• I need to do a word study on faithless vs. faithful. Interesting too that in 2 Timothy 2:13, I believe, God says He will remain faithful to the faithless.

Verse 14: "Return faithless people," declares the LORD, "for I am your husband. I will choose you-one from a town and two from a clan-and bring you to Zion."

• Again, a reference to the LORD as Israel's husband.
• He's now decided to bring them back if they would only repent of their wrongdoing.
• He goes on to promise them leaders who will lead with knowledge & understaning.