Jeremiah 16:1-21
1 The word of the LORD also came to me, saying, 2 "You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place." 3 For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: 4 "They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth."
5 For thus says the LORD: "Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people," says the LORD, "lovingkindness and mercies. 6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. 7 Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother. 8 Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink."
9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 "And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?' 11 then you shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me,' says the LORD; 'they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. 12 And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me. 13 Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.'
14 "Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that it shall no more be said, 'The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' 15 but, 'The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.' For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
16 "Behold, I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 17 For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. 18 And first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols."
19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress,
My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
"Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and unprofitable things."
20 Will a man make gods for himself,
Which are not gods?
21 "Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
And they shall know that My name is the LORD.
Israel as God’s chosen covenant people had been judged and rejected in part so that the people called out of the nations might join them as one in the Messiah to come. Through the continuing unrepentant sin of Israel and their accountability addressed by the LORD it seemed that they would be utterly destroyed. The harsh words of abandonment ring out to Jeremiah in the first half of this chapter who was told not to be sorrowful because God had taken His peace from them for their grievous sins. Celebrations and marriage celebrations would cease (Revelation 18:23-24) along with their fruitfulness and joy once experienced in following Him alone instead of dead gods and idols without any life or help or hope. When they asked why the LORD pronounced these woes of judgment, as if they were unaware of thought themselves innocent, He answered with the charges against them of breaking the first commandment to worship Him only and their forsaking Him for the works of their own hands and imaginations of their hearts in denying and defying Him. They followed the ways of their own hearts (Judges 17:6) instead of by God’s standards (1 Kings 15:5, 2 Chronicles 34:2), choosing to do what was made right by human reasoning to justify their sin. The LORD then promised to bring back a remnant from where they would be scattered that they might again find a dwelling place in their promised land. He would also hunt them down who continued in sin to hold them accountable for their idolatry of rejecting Him. The hope then is that because of this cleansing of His people and restoration of a remnant that the people He chose out of all the other nations who would be of the promise of faith of Abraham (Galatians 3:9), that they would be added (Ephesians 2:16-18, Romans 9:8, 24, 27, 11:11) as they realize their own idolatry which the chosen nation had followed instead of the LORD. This demonstrated to all Israel that God would open their understanding of His unlimited power and strength to make them see who are is and know His name as His people. This message of judgment and restoration is to all He calls as His people made one in Christ. He opens deaf ears and blind eyes of stony hearts to be regenerated and reborn to see Him and hear His voice and pulls us from dead gods of our own imagination’s creation to know the only Creator and Sustainer of us all.
No comments:
Post a Comment