Week 25: Jeremiah: Chapters 1-29, Jeremiah Part 1: Time for Judgment

Yehovah, Yehovah, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished… (Exodus 34:6-7). These are the words that Yehovah, the creator of the universe and our loving heavenly Father uses to describe Himself. As we have studied the history of Israel we have seen many examples of his mercy and forgiveness. When we get to the Book of Jeremiah, the time for God to punish the guilty of Judah as arrived.

God tells His people, “Let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yehovah who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things” (Jeremiah 9:24). God’s desire is engage us in a loving relationship. He always begins His outreach to us by extending His lovingkindness to us. But His love calls us to obedience to His laws so that His justice and righteousness is practiced in our lives.

The time has come for the punishing of the Southern Kingdom for their repeated violation of God’s law. Jeremiah points out that they failed to learn the lesson of God’s judgement by seeing the exile of the people of the Northern Kingdom. Now the time has come for them to be exiled to Babylon for seventy years.

Even as God is judging them, it is not to destroy them but to chastise them. As God is sending them into exile he tells them: “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares Yehovah, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you (Jeremiah 29:11-12). Yes the exile was to punish them but it was also to serve to get them to turn back to Him through prayer and reestablish a proper relationship with Him.

False prophets opposed Jeremiah and reassured the people that God would protect them because His temple was in Jerusalem. But God does not dwell in structures made by men (Isaiah 66:1; Acts 47:48-50). The political leaders look for assistance from Egypt in defending themselves against the Babylonians. But God says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength” (Jeremiah 17:5). Empty religious practices and political alliances would not protect them from the judgement they deserved. But through the process God wanted them to learn: “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yehovah and whose trust is Yehovah” (Jeremiah 17:7).

The deceit of their hearts had caused God to judge and exile them (Jeremiah 17:9-14). Further, it caused them to imprison and even plot to kill Jeremiah for speaking God’s truth to them.

Despite all this, we will see next week that God plans to return them to the land, establish a new covenant with them and send them a Messiah.

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