Week 41, October 6–12: Jeremiah 15–34

• Sun      10/6     Jer 15–17
• Mon     10/7     Jer 18–19
• Tue      10/8     Jer 20–22
• Wed     10/9     Jer 23–25
• Thu      10/10   Jer 26–28
• Fri        10/11   Jer 29–31
• Sat       10/12   Jer 32–34

Jeremiah was a priest (Jer. 1:1) who was called by God to oppose the corrupt priesthood in Jerusalem (1:18; 2:26; 5:31). He was a prophet who opposed the false prophets of Israel (5:31; 6:13; 27:16). He was called by the Lord to speak out against the people of Judah and Israel, who had gone astray from following the ways of God and keeping his covenant. As we saw in last week’s reading, Jeremiah’s message was not always comfortable, and his methods were sometimes far from conventional (see 13:11). He suffered and grieved greatly despite being faithful to God’s call (really, because he was faithful to God’s call).

Jeremiah has many connections to other places in the Bible. Scholars have noticed how much of the language and themes of Jeremiah are rooted in the theology of the Pentateuch, especially Deuteronomy. In this week’s reading, notice the way passages in Deuteronomy like Deut. 29:10–28 and 30:1–10 are reflected in Jeremiah, especially in the New Covenant language of Jeremiah 31.

Another example of connections between Jeremiah and other books of the OT can be seen in chapter 17. There it speaks of the one who trust in the Lord and is like a tree planted by water that “does not cease to bear fruit” (17:8) This sounds very similar to Psalm 1, which says the person who meditates on the Torah of the Lord is “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season” (Ps. 1:2–3). The implication is that there is some meaningful correlation between trusting the Lord and reading and meditating on his word. Many other such connections occur throughout Jeremiah.

Jeremiah’s message, like the prophetic literature more generally, has a logical development to it, and it appears quite pessimistic at first. Generally speaking, the logic can be expressed like this.

• Jeremiah rebukes God’s people for their sin. They have rejected him and broken covenant with him.
• Their sin and rejection of God was inevitable. They have always rebelled, and rebellion is embedded in their hearts. They cannot change.
• Jeremiah reminds them that God is just and has promised his righteous punishment if his people sin against him.
• The people’s sin results in judgment. They have experienced God’s punishment or will soon, just as God said they would. Exile is the climactic punishment that was promised and eventually comes about.
• Jeremiah pleads for the people’s fortunes to be restored and their enemies defeated.
• But this will not and cannot happen without a change in the circumstances that caused the punishment, the sin of God’s people.
• So there must be some other solution, something God does that his people could not do.

This sequence does not develop sequentially in a nice, neat way throughout Jeremiah, but the different parts of Jeremiah’s message build on each other with a logical coherence that moves the hearers, and the readers, to a place of desperate longing for God’s gracious work. There is no hope for the people of God, or for humanity, outside of God’s own mighty acts of compassion to bring about a new reality in their hearts and in the world he created.

As our reading this week moves towards the central portion of the book in chapters 30–33, notice the repeated promises of a hopeful future. Also notice the promise of a coming son of David, a Branch from his lineage, who will bring in this hopeful new future the Lord promises through the prophetic word of Jeremiah.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” (Jer. 23:5–6)

“And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.” (Jer. 30:8–9)

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:31–34)

“I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.” (Jer. 32:39–41)

“I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me… Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’… Thus says the Lord: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.” (Jer. 33:7–8, 14–16, 25–26)