Sermon - AudioJeremiah 38-40 & Psalm 74 & 79 - Audio
Jeremiah 38-40 & Psalm 74 & 79 - Reading
Daily Insights - Please Comment
v2-3 = Jeremiah tells the people to surrender to the Chaldeans and they will keep their lives. The officials and King Zedekiah think Jeremiah is undermining them and hurting the war effort by doing this, when actually the advice is sound and is the only thing that will save the people.
v6 = A cistern was a holding tank for water. The people would use it to gather water during the rainy season. The bottom of the cistern was disgusting because of all the trash/feces/etc that would fall into the cistern and go to the bottom. There is no food/water in it, so Jeremiah will starve.
Thought = Once again, look at where God's path has led Jeremiah.
Ebed-Melech rescues Jeremiah from the cistern.
v15 = King Zedekiah wants to know what Jeremiah has to say. Unfortunately Jeremiah keeps telling them time and time again, but people aren't listening. This time, King Z says he will listen and not kill Jeremiah.
v17-18 = Jeremiah tells King Z to surrender himself.
v19 = Zedekiah’s professed fear is of Jews who have already fled to the Babylonians. Perhaps he intends to suggest reprisals for poor treatment during the terrible hardships of siege. -WBC-
v25-28 = Jeremiah agreed to protect the king. See 37:21. the day that Jerusalem was taken. Babylon renewed the siege, as Jeremiah had promised (see 37:6–10), and eventually triumphed. ESVSB
Jeremiah 39
*Again, not in order, probably around 589BC.
*v4 = Zedekiah’s response to the end of the siege was predictable. As the Babylonians broke through the wall to the north, he and many of his retinue attempted to flee to the south. Holladay (2:292) suggests that Zedekiah was attempting to reach the protection of the Ammonite king on the other side of the Jordan. -WBC- He is captured.
*v6-7 = The punishment of Zedekiah is severe. He sees his sons executed/He is blinded. He didn't listen to Jeremiah's words from God.
*v8 = The promised destruction from Jeremiah comes to pass.
*v9-10 = The poorest people were left to run the land there.
*v11-14 = God makes sure that Jeremiah is watched over. Nebuchadnezzar takes care of him. Many people would have seen this and have become angry with Jeremiah.
*v16-18 = Ebed-melech will be spared because of His goodness towards God. For believing in Him and rescuing Jeremiah. This is in stark contrast to those who do not listen to God.
Q. So, are you listening (doing) as He speaks in the text?
Jeremiah 40
*This is in order from the last chapter.
*v2-5 = Nebuzaradan recognizes the truth of Jeremiah’s preaching about Jerusalem’s fall. As Nebuchadnezzar ordered (39:11–12), Nebuzaradan offered Jeremiah a choice of where to live and put him under Gedaliah’s protection. -ESVSB-
*v9 = Perhaps the soldiers wanted Gedaliah to lead a revolt. If so, they were disappointed. He gave them the same advice Jeremiah gave the exiles in 29:1–9. ESVSB
*v10 = The poor people now had things they didn't have before when the rich were oppressing them.
v13-14 = The Ammonites opposed Babylon (27:3) and would therefore oppose Gedaliah. The archaeological record confirms the existence of “Baalis, the king of the Ammonites” in the sixth century B.C. An Ammonite seal from this time reads, “Belonging to Baalis, king of the Ammonites.” An inscription from Tel el-Umeiri in Jordan on a seal impression of a high-court official says, “Milqom servant of Baalis.” -ESVBS-
Psalm 74
1-2 - The reason why the God has "cast them off" is because they have rejected His Word (Torah) and His Word through the prophets. The people have chosen death.
5 - This is the Babylonians, see Jer 46:22-23
4-8 - The Babylonians have destroyed the Sanctuary.
9-10 - There is no longer any prophets because God has taken His words from them (Amos 8:11)
11 - The right hand was seen as the one with might and power. The Psalmist is pleading with God to act in power.
12-17 - The Psalmist remembers God and speaks of where God has brought His people.
18-23 - The Psalmist reminds God, as if He needed to be, of the promises to His people and the crimes that are being committed against Him. Everyone wants God to vindicate by killing enemies, but God sends a Savior (His Son) to vindicate through a people by love/justice/righteousness.
Psalm 79
2 - It is a disgrace in the Eastern world to be left unburied/exposed.
3 - Judah was a sacrifice whose blood was poured out. In addition, blood defiles, as does a corpse. So the heathens have defiled Jerusalem not only by the simple act of entering God’s holy precinct (which according to some views was off–limits to them; see Lam. 1:10), but further by contaminating it with blood and corpses. -JSB-
5 - The Psalmist crys out for the end of this, How Long?!
8-10 - Finally, someone seems repentant. This is what God has desired from His people, and they have not turned.
10 - The nations see what is happening to God's people and they question where their God is.
11 - This is an interesting statement when thinking back to the Exodus, when God tells Moses that the peoples cries have come before Him. It's not as if God doesn't know or see what is happening. It's seemingly the only way His people will listen/repent.
13 - The Psalmist is being very optimistic here. I believe he wants to do this, but the people keep turning against God.
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