
Jeremiah 7-9 - Audio
Jeremiah 7-9 - Reading
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Jeremiah 7-9
Chapter 7
- 1-4) Jeremiah receives a word from the Lord to proclaim against the people as they worship. The worship of Judah has become merely a formality without sincerity. They were talking the talk without walking the walk. God considers our worship to be meaningless and hypocritical if it is not backed up by a life of holiness. Apparently the people felt beyond judgment because they lived near the temple. In spite of their false worship they believed that the temple would protect them. In the same way we should heed the warning of this chapter. Just because we enjoy the privileges of baptism, worship, and church membership does not guarantee that we enjoy God's pleasure.
- 5-7) Jeremiah presents lists of grievances that make the people's worship empty. God's people could not profess their love for Him on the one hand, and practice injustice on the other. Today I had a new furnace put in my home by a trusted friend. The purchase of the furnace will enable me to obtain a significant reimbursement on my taxes for 2010. My friend shared with me that some local companies are putting new furnaces in people's homes, and then collecting the rebate money for themselves without informing the person who purchased the furnace they were eligible for a rebate. I wonder how many of these business owners worship the Lord and profess love for him. God is concerned about our business practices and the most vulnerable in society. If the people would repent, God would allow them to live in the land.
- 8-15) Judah had broken all of the Ten Commandments. Their hearts were dead and they would not repent. The Lord rebukes the people of Judah for believing they have been delivered and forgiven without genuine repentance. Jesus quotes vs. 11 in Matthew 21.13 to speak of how the temple was being misused in his time. Just as Shiloh (formerly an important place of worship) had been overrun, so too would Jerusalem.
- 16) God commands Jeremiah to not pray for Jerusalem, for he is determined to bring destruction.
- 18) Entire families would engage in the worship of the "queen of heaven," named Astarte. She was believed to be a god who aided in fertility.
- 21-24) This verse emphasizes that worship is only pleasing to God if people obey his commands. Israel did not obey because their hearts were hardened.
- 25-28) God sent several prophets to warn Israel about the consequences of continued disobedience. Israel refused to learn from past discipline.
- 30-34) These verses are eye popping! Just when we are getting ready to judge God for "going negative" we are shocked to see that Israel has degenerated to the point where they were sacrificing their own children in the fire to idols. When God punishes Israel we see the dead bodies will be piled so high, a valley will be renamed "The Valley of Slaughter." We are often of the opinion that we should not defend God's truth too loudly, if at all, in the public arena. Wherever a culture turns its back on God's law, the most vulnerable in society will be sacrificed. Whether it is the lambs being slaughtered by abortion or the poor being deprived of justice, people will suffer in the face of what Solzhenitsyn called, "The Great Lie".
- Child sacrifice was known from Canaanite/Phoenician contexts. The offering of children, especially firstborn, to the gods was seen as a means of manipulating deities to grant fertility to the offerer. Archaeological excavations at Carthage, a Phoenician colony founded in the eighth century b.c., include the charred remains of thousands of child sacrifices. (ESV Study Bible)
Chapter 8
- 1-3) Removing bones from their graves was an incredible insult and considered sacrilegious. It should be noted the bones to be removed are from the people of power who have refused to follow the Lord's law.
- Ø This section is written in poetic form and talks about the certainty of God's judgment.
- 7) Although birds and other animals follow their God-given instincts, God's people refuse to obey his word.
- 8-9) False teachers and prophets were a major problem in Israel. Jeremiah was preaching judgment while all others were saying just the opposite. The challenge to hold to the truth while others proclaim a "cheap grace" can be daunting.
- Judah possesses God's law, just as it possesses the temple. But their scribes, the professional copiers and teachers of the Scriptures, have altered God's word to fit their own desires. Thus, they have made it into a lie. (ESV Study Bible)
- 11-12) The people have an open wound that is improperly bandaged by the lying of Israel's leaders. They are telling people they are not sick, when in fact they are dying. The prophets and priest were not only speaking lies, but engaging in the worship of idols too. God's people have lost their sense of shame. There is no embarrassment regarding their evil deeds.
- 14-16) The people believe that they are doomed no matter what they do. The falsely proclaim that they repented and hoped for better but now ruin and judgment is lying at the door. Powerful horses and venomous snakes will punish God's people.
- 18-24) The people speak of their hapless predicament and Jeremiah grieves for his people. Jeremiah feels the reality of judgment and he is horrified by what he sees.
Chapter 9
- 1) Some have become overly romantic about this verse by calling Jeremiah the "weeping prophet." All one has to do is read other parts of the book to understand that chapter 9 is only one part of a big body of work that express many different emotions.
- 2) Jeremiah weeps, but he knows that the land is full of people who commit adultery and betray others. The sin of the people causes the prophet to desire separation from his people.
- 3) The tongues of the people cause great evil. Probably the most dangerous part of any church would be the tongues of the members.
- 4-6) Deceptions and lying are so pervasive that no-one can be trusted in any circumstance. As God's people follow their own desires, lies begin to dominate.
- 8) The people are smooth in their speech but have war in their hearts against each-other.
- 10-11) Jeremiah laments for his people. Israel will become a wasteland, inhabited by animals and good for nothing.
- 12) The evil of Judah has become so significant that they are not wise enough to understand why they are in ruins. In our culture we see celebrated wickedness with the obvious results of poverty, injustice, and death. No one seems to be able to admit this simple fact.
- 17-18) The mourning women are professional mourners able to chant funeral songs. They will join Jeremiah's wailing. (ESV Study Bible)
- 19-21) The women are teaching others to mourn; death has entered the land and is "taking no prisoners". Bodies will be lying everywhere.
- 23-24) As we have seen throughout the Old Testament, truly wise people learn the law and seek to obey. They are blessed and grow in wisdom.
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