During the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, Jerusalem became the conquest of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. He destroyed Solomon’s Temple and carted away all of the Gold and Holy Articles of Worship. These horrible events for the nation of Judah did not come without warning. The nation had a number of very young kings who were given reign as young as eight years old (Josiah) and eighteen (Jehoiakin); Jehoahaz was only twenty three. If we could imagine our nation being ruled by an eight year old as president and other top advisors in their teens and early twenties; this would be a very scary picture. There was definitely a lack of maturity and experience among the leaders of Judah.
Jeremiah was just a child when the LORD began to speak to him. He was the son of the priest Hilkiah and during his calling as a prophet of the LORD, he would serve King Josiah, Jehoiakin and Zedekiah and to the carrying away of the people, as captives, to Babylon.
Jeremiah 1:1-3 ESV The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, (2) to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. (3) It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
Jeremiah’s destiny was to be a prophet of the LORD because the LORD called him from the womb and had plans for his life. Even though he was just a child, maybe not even a teenager, the LORD had made him holy from the womb and He put His WORD in Jeremiah’s mouth; for the purpose of smashing down, rebuilding and planting.
Jeremiah 1:4-10 BBE Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, (5) Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you, and before your birth I made you holy; I have given you the work of being a prophet to the nations. (6) Then said I, O Lord God! see, I have no power of words, for I am a child. (7) But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a child: for wherever I send you, you are to go, and whatever I give you orders to say, you are to say. (8) Have no fear because of them: for I am with you, to keep you safe, says the Lord. (9) Then the Lord put out his hand, touching my mouth; and the Lord said to me, See, I have put my words in your mouth: (10) See, this day I have put you over the nations and over the kingdoms, for uprooting and smashing down, for destruction and overturning, for building up and planting.
Jeremiah was sent to proclaim the LORD’s case against Judah and Israel. In detail, he proclaimed the wonders of the LORD and His marvelous works of blessings, deliverance, reconciliation and restoration. How could, the LORD’s chosen people have turned their back on Him? They were a Holy people! God set them up to be a model to the world; a Royal Priesthood of the LORD. God wanted to bless them with all greatness and blessings pouring out in abundance forever. Instead, Israel went out and played the prostitute, she went after strange gods made with the hands of men. When Judah saw the evil that Israel was doing, she too followed into adultery.
Jeremiah 2:20 ESV "For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, 'I will not serve. Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.”
Jeremiah 3:6-11 ESV The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? (7) And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me,' but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. (8) She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. (9) Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. (10) Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD." (11) And the LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
Jeremiah expressed the LORD’s lament over His unfaithful bride Judah. The LORD pleaded with His people to plow up their stony hearts, the fallow ground of their lives; meaning the hard attitudes and neglectful ways. Fallow ground is neglected ground. Israel had neglected their God, the LORD! They threw away God’s blessings and turned to the most despicable pagan worship of throwing their babies in the fire of Baal, Chemosh and Molech.
Jeremiah 2:17-24 ESV Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way? (18) And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates? (19) Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts. (20) "For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, 'I will not serve.' Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore. (21) Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine? (22) Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord GOD. (23) How can you say, 'I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals'? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done-- a restless young camel running here and there, (24) a wild donkey used to the wilderness, in her heat sniffing the wind! Who can restrain her lust? None who seek her need weary themselves; in her month they will find her.
Under King Jehoiakin and King Zedekiah; Jeremiah was ridiculed, beat and thrown in prison for spreading the WORD of the LORD and the warning of the impeding disaster to come upon Judah. The voice of the LORD through Jeremiah even reached Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah was in prison when Nebuchadnezzar sent his army to tear down the walls of Jerusalem and burn the city. Nebuchadnezzar gave orders not to harm Jeremiah, but to free him and to follow Jeremiah’s instructions. Nebuchadnezzar respected the WORD of the LORD as revealed by Jeremiah, even in King Zedekiah of Judah didn’t.
Jeremiah 39:8-12 ESV The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. (9) Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained. (10) Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. (11) Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, (12) "Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you."
Jeremiah spent his life warning Kings who turned a deaf ear to the warnings from the LORD. When disaster struck and Jerusalem was destroyed, there was nothing to be done. Jeremiah was in a perpetual lament over the destruction of God’s people; their captivity and the destruction of the Temple and for Jerusalem. Jeremiah authored the books of 1st and 2nd Kings, Jeremiah and Lamentations. Jeremiah loved the LORD and was dedicated to proclaiming the warning to repent and turn to the LORD. He wept constantly over the people and their sin.
Father in Heaven, help us to never turn a deaf ear to you. Always lead us into your righteousness; trust you only, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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