DBG - August 17 - Jeremiah 10-13

In this chapter the idolatry of Judah is condemned.

vs. 1-5 – It has been common practice in pagan worship to seek guidance from observing astronomical phenomena.  God takes aim at this practice and the overall absurdity of idol worship.

vs. 6-18 – The mighty God is contrasted against lifeless idols.  There is simply no comparison!  The people would be judged for worshipping false gods that had no power to deliver them from God’s wrath.

vs. 19-25 – Jeremiah places himself in the desolation that follows God’s judgment.  He prays that God would use the inevitable judgment to purge but not destroy Israel.  He then prays that God’s fury be poured out on the Gentiles that afflict Israel.

In this chapter Israel is charged with breaking their covenant with God.

vs. 1-17 – Israel had broken their covenant with God to serve Him.  In passages such as Exodus 24 they had solemnly promised to obey and honor God, but they soon turned to idols.  They would face judgment for failing to keep their word.  In vs. 14 it is shown that they had crossed the line of no return and only judgment could bring them back.

vs. 18-23 – Jeremiah’s colleagues had tried to silence his message of approaching judgment.  God exhorts Jeremiah to continue speaking the truth because those men would be consumed in the coming judgment.

In this chapter Jeremiah wrestles with the prosperity of the wicked.

vs. 1-4 – Jeremiah is bothered by the age-old question: how can the wicked prosper?  The cause of his frustration is the opposition we saw in Jeremiah 11:18-23.  The Bible deals with this question in many places because it is something we definitely struggle with.  My favorite answer to this problem is Psalm 73.  Jeremiah prays for swift judgment against the wicked.

vs. 5-13 – God first responds that the opposition will be stronger in the future.  He then speaks of the judgment, not in the future tense, but in the past.  They had crossed the line of no return.

vs. 14-17 – God addresses the nations surrounding Judah.  They too will be caught up in the coming judgment.  To them is offered the same mercy as offered to the Jews: they must repent of their idolatry and turn to the Lord. 

In this chapter the coming judgment is illustrated.

vs. 1-11 – Jeremiah uses an object lesson.  He gets a fine linen girdle and wears it.  He was not to wash it.  God then tells him to take it and bury it in the banks of the Euphrates River.  He retrieves it after quite some time, and it is decayed too much to be of any use.  The girdle represents Israel and its close relation to God.  Their pride and sin soiled them until they were beyond redemption.  The appearance of the Euphrates links this to Babylon and the coming judgment.

vs. 12-14 – Jeremiah uses a second object lesson.  He uses bottles of wine as a comparison to the intoxicated, sinful state of Judah.  The bottles were destroyed just as the judgment would destroy Judah.

vs. 15-21 – The leaders of Judah are called to repent before judgment falls.  They had been entrusted with care of God’s people.  God now calls them to account for the state of the nation.

vs. 22-27 – The fact that the leaders did not recognize their sinful state shows why judgment must come.  They are too far gone and cannot change who they are.

Sometimes we are tempted to say, “How could God allow things to get so bad?” That places the blame in the wrong place. We are the ones who go astray. God has given us a free will, but with that free will comes the responsibility for our actions. God will execute justice in His time. That is not necessarily according to our schedule.

Our hymn today appears under the heading “Sanctified Affliction” and was written by Charles Wesley.  It reflects the righteous judgment of God that Jeremiah wrestled with in Jeremiah 12:1.

Glory to thee, thou righteous God;
Righteous, yet kind to me;
For under thy paternal rod,
Paternal love I see.

Though humbled in the lowest deep,
Thy gracious hand I bless;
And, thinking of thy love, I weep
For my unfaithfulness.

Thou dost in tenderness chastise,
And graciously reprove:
My father!--all within me cries--
Thy ways are truth and love.