Jeremiah 16
OGCREVIEW OF CHAPTER TEN
I. Facts to Master
The time when Jeremiah received this word from God (Jeremiah 14:1).
Two titles of God used in Jeremiah 14:8.
Number of times God forbids Jeremiah to pray on behalf of his people.
What would not avail to spare the people from further calamity. (Jeremiah 14:12).
The message of the false prophets (Jeremiah 14:13; Jeremiah 14:15).
The divine explanation of false prophecy (Jeremiah 14:14).
The fate of the false prophets (Jeremiah 14:15).
Two great prophetic intercessors from the past (Jeremiah 15:1).
The four fates awaiting the sinners of Judah (Jeremiah 15:2).
The four destructive agencies God has appointed over them (Jeremiah 14:3).
The one king in particular whose sin necessitated the destruction of Judah (Jeremiah 15:4).
That of which Jeremiah accused God (Jeremiah 15:18).
Three prohibitions in chapter 16.
The great event of the future which would make Israel forget the Exodus from Egypt (Jeremiah 16:14-15).
The unique figures by which the Chaldeans are described (Jeremiah 16:16).
The sin of Judah is written with the point of a _________ (Jeremiah 17:1).
Their sin was engraved upon their and the _____________ (Jeremiah 17:1).
The heart is and is exceedingly (Jeremiah 17:9).
The place where Jeremiah delivered his sermon on Sabbath observance (Jeremiah 17:19).
What they were not to do on the Sabbath (Jeremiah 17:21-22).
II. Questions to Ponder
Just how serious was the drought which occasioned the oracles in this block of material? See Jeremiah 14:2-6.
Who is responsible for the prayer in Jeremiah 14:7-9, the prophet or the people? Is it sincere? Were the people really willing to pay the price of divine blessing? What was God’s response to the prayer? See Jeremiah 14:10-12.
What is the point of the reference to the sojourner and wayfaring man in Jeremiah 14:8?
By what criteria could a false prophet be distinguished from a true prophet? How can the message of a false prophet today best be countered? See Jeremiah 14:17.
Who is praying in Jeremiah 14:19-22?
What is the mood of the prophet at this time? See Jeremiah 15:10. How does God answer Jeremiah’s complaint? Jeremiah 15:11-14.
Why does Jeremiah feel that God owes him some thing? Jeremiah 15:16-18 a.
Did Jeremiah go too far in his complaint? How does God answer His bitter and discouraged prophet? Jeremiah 15:19-21.
why was Jeremiah refused permission to marry? See Jeremiah 16:3-4. Are wives a help or hindrance to the Gospel minister?
Does God expect Christians to cease mourning for the dead (Jeremiah 16:5) and to eliminate times of rejoicing (Jeremiah 16:8)? Why these prohibitions to Jeremiah?
Is a sinner aware of his iniquity? See Jeremiah 16:10.
What is meant by recompense their iniquity and their sin double? Jeremiah 16:18.
In Jeremiah 16:19-20 Jeremiah expresses confidence that Gen tiles will eventually cast away their idols. How does God respond to that prayer in Jeremiah 16:21? Does God have a plan for the nations? Where do Christians fit into that plan?
What is my mountain in the field? Jeremiah 17:3.
In Jeremiah 17:5-8 the believer and the unbeliever are contrasted. How do they differ?
Does Jeremiah 17:9 teach total depravity?
What is the point of the proverb about riches in Jeremiah 17:11?
For what does Jeremiah pray in Jeremiah 17:12-18?
What does Jeremiah’s sermon on Sabbath observance prove as regards his attitude toward religious observances?
Jeremiah 16:1-9
III.** **PROPHETIC CONDUCT Jeremiah 16:1-21
Jeremiah came through his personal crisis. He repented and God took him back. Now that the rebellious prophet was humble and contrite, God gives him further instructions concerning his personal conduct (Jeremiah 16:1-9) and his message (Jeremiah 16:10-13). God pulls back the curtain to reveal to His prophet the purpose and reason for the forthcoming judgment (Jeremiah 16:14-18). To all of this the prophet responds with a ringing affirmation of faith and vision (Jeremiah 16:19-21).
A. Directions to the Prophet Jeremiah 16:1-9
TRANSLATION
(1) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Do not take a wife for yourself nor shall you have sons and daughters in this place. (3) For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and the daughters who are being born in this place and concerning their mothers who are bearing them and concerning their fathers who are begetting them in this land: Painful deaths they shall die. (4) They shall not be mourned nor shall they be buried. They will be as dung upon the face of the ground. They shall be consumed by the sword and famine; and their corpses shall be food for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the land. (5) For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people (oracle of the LORD), loving-kindness and compassion. (6) Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried nor shall lamentation be made for them nor shall one cut himself nor make himself bald for them. (7) Neither shall men break bread for them in mourning to comfort anyone for the dead; neither shall they give them the cup of consolation for one’s father and for one’s mother. (8) And to the house of feasting do not go to sit with them, to eat and to drink. (9) For thus says the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to cause to cease from this place before your eyes and in your days the sound of joy and gladness, the sound of bridegroom and bride.
COMMENTS
A minister must live a life that is consistent with the message he brings else he will be charged with hypocrisy and insincerity. Jeremiah had for the most part been preaching a message of doom and judgment. His life must reflect the gloomy prospects of the nation. A man preaches by what he does and does not do as well as by his words. There is a great deal of truth in the old adage what you are speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say. In order to bring the life of Jeremiah into harmony with the message he was to deliver, God laid down three prohibitions for His prophet.
In the first prohibition Jeremiah is commanded not to marry and father children (Jeremiah 16:2). Hosea was married as was Isaiah and Ezekiel. Probably most of the prophets had helpmates. But Jeremiah was denied wifely companionship. He had complained of his pain and loneliness and now a greater burden was laid upon him. But it was necessary that he abstain from marriage in order to get across to his contemporaries the message of how terribly desperate were the times. In Old Testament times marriage was regarded as the natural state. To remain unmarried would cause the people to realize how serious the times really were. Jeremiah’s non-marriage was a symbolic act with predictive overtones. Shortly the time would come when there would be no more marriage. Furthermore the nation was about to go through a period of brutal warfare. Children as well as their parents would die painful deaths (literally, deaths of sickness), including starvation (Jeremiah 16:3). Those who died of sword and famine would be left as dung upon the ground, their corpses being eaten by bird and beast alike (Jeremiah 16:4). This was no kind of a world in which to rear a child. While, therefore, it may seem harsh to disallow marriage for Jeremiah, the prohibition is fundamentally beneficent. Jeremiah was spared the added agony of seeing wife and little ones destroyed. One thinks immediately of the attitude of the Apostle Paul toward marriage in similar circumstances (1 Corinthians 7:26).
In the second prohibition Jeremiah is forbidden to attend funerals (Jeremiah 16:5). How difficult it must have been for the prophet to abstain from the customary extension of sympathy to the family of those who were near and dear to him. Again Jeremiah’s action would have predictive significance. His abstinence from the normal visitation to homes where there had been a death would provide an opportunity for him to describe the great slaughter which would shortly take place in Judah. So many would die in that day of famine, pestilence and warfare that the few survivors would not be able nor inclined to conduct the normal funeral service. Nobles and commoners will die but no one will bury them or take up a lament over them. The pagan rites of showing remorse by cutting oneself or shaving the head would not be performed (Jeremiah 16:6). Both of these latter customs were forbidden in the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 14:1; Leviticus 19:28; Leviticus 21:5). The funeral feast normally conducted in the home of the bereaved after the burial will be dispensed with (Jeremiah 16:7). This meal no doubt was accompanied by lamentation and prayers for comfort (cf. 2 Samuel 3:35; Ezekiel 24:17; Hosea 9:4). These formalities would have to be abandoned. Death would be so common that men could not participate in such observances even if they wanted to do so. All of this will befall Judah because God had withdrawn His peace, loving-kindness and compassion from the nation (Jeremiah 16:5). Judah is forsaken by her God. She is helpless and hopeless. A third prohibition forbade Jeremiah to attend joyous feasts and festivals as, for example, a wedding meal (Jeremiah 16:8). Jeremiah was no recluse. In fact in his previous prayer he complains that he has been excluded from the assemblies of merrymakers (Jeremiah 15:17). Again Jeremiah’s abstinence is to have a didactic purpose, it is intended to be an object lesson to the people of that generation. The nation was crumbling to destruction. This was no time for feasting and rejoicing. In the very near future all joyous activities would cease (cf. Jeremiah 7:34). When faced with extermination men would no longer think of feasting and banqueting (Jeremiah 16:9). While the prohibition had a valid and useful objective it nonetheless added to the burden which Jeremiah had to bear.
Jeremiah 16:10-13
B. Instructions for the Prophet Jeremiah 16:10-13
TRANSLATION
(10) And it shall come to pass when you declare to this people all these things that they will say unto you: For what reason does the LORD speak against us all this great evil? What is our iniquity and what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God? (11) You shall say unto them: Because your fathers forsook Me (oracle of the LORD) and went after other gods and served them and bowed down to them; and forsook Me and did not keep My law. (12) But you have done greater wickedness than your fathers; and behold, you are continuing to walk each man after the stubbornness of his evil heart so that You do not listen unto Me. (13) So I will hurl you from this land unto a land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers. There you shall serve other gods by day and by night, because I will not give grace to you.
COMMENTS
Provoked by the strange anti-social behavior of the prophet the people become defiant. Two rhetorical questions are asked not for the sake of information but for protestation. Why do you bring your message of doom? What sin have we committed? (Jeremiah 16:10). As is frequent in the Book of Malachi the people are challenging the message of God’s prophet by means of questions. Either these people were self-righteous and totally blind to their iniquity or else they were attempting to bluff the prophet into silence by this brazen challenge. If the latter was their aim then they failed. Jeremiah had a ready answer. The history of Israel had been one continuous record of apostasy (Jeremiah 16:11). But the present generation is worse than their predecessors (Jeremiah 16:12). Contrary to the optimistic analyses of some historians one generation may be worse than another in the sight of God. The fathers who had sinned against God in the wilderness were denied access to Canaan. The apostate sons of the present generation would be denied the privilege of remaining in Canaan. The greater guilt of the present generation may lie in the fact that they had the advantage of greater revelation. They had been warned by countless prophets. They had seen the wrath of God poured out upon their sister kingdom to the north. Still they persisted in apostasy. For this reason God would hurl them from their land as a man hurls a javelin into the air. Sarcastically Jeremiah adds that there in that foreign land they can serve idols to their heart’s content. God will not show favor to His people by delivering them from the hand of their enemies (Jeremiah 16:13).
Jeremiah 16:14-18
C. Explanation on Behalf of the Prophet Jeremiah 16:14-18
TRANSLATION
(14) Therefore behold, days are coming (oracle of the LORD) when it shall no more be said, As the LORD lives who brought us up from the land of Egypt, (15) but, As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from the lands to which He drove them. For I will cause them to return unto the land which I gave to their fathers. (16) Behold, I am about to send for many fishers (oracle of the LORD) and they shall fish for them. And after this I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. (17) For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from before Me; yea their iniquity is not concealed from before My eyes. (18) First I will recompense their sin and iniquity double because they have profaned My land; with the carcasses of their abomination and their detestable things they have filled My inheritance.
COMMENTS
Jeremiah 16:14-15 plainly predict that God will in days to come bring His people home from the Exile into which He was about to hurl them. The new Exodus from Babylon would be of such magnitude and glory that it would eclipse the old Exodus from Egypt. When one used an epithet for God in an oath he would in the future make mention of this new manifestation of divine power. In the view of the Old Testament prophets the restoration from Babylon culminated in the work of the great liberator, the Messiah. When viewed in these broad terms the new Exodus did exceed the old in significance.
Jeremiah 16:14-15 serve a dual purpose in chapter 16. First, these verses provide confirmation of the coming judgment. That it is the intent of these verses to underscore the certainty of the coming judgment is indicated by the introductory word therefore. This word usually introduces a statement of judgment in the Old Testament. It is unnecessary then to follow most commentators in regarding Jeremiah 16:14-15 as an interpolation or even to regard these verses as a misplaced fragment intended to soften the threat of Jer 16:11-13. While these verses do speak of restoration at the same time they underscore the fact that a total deportation of the Jews was imminent. The deportation will be so complete that the only people who will live in the promised land in the future will be those who have been brought from Babylon by God.
Jeremiah 16:14-15 have a second and no less important function. They are intended to console the prophet who was heartbroken over the ruin and destruction of his people. The deportation to Babylon while sure and certain would not be the final curtain in the history of Israel. God’s people would come home. While this promise is not entirely new to Jeremiah (cf. Jeremiah 3:18-19) it needed to be reiterated at this particular time.
In Jeremiah 16:16 the threat against Judah is continued. The Chaldeans are compared to fishermen and hunters who search every nook and cranny of the land to take captives (Jeremiah 16:16). The prophet Habakkuk also compared the Chaldeans to fishermen who drag in their nets full of helpless captives (Habakkuk 1:15). The ruthless fishing and hunting is punishment for the iniquity of the men of Judah of which God has been and is constantly aware (Jeremiah 16:17). Before He can restore the Jews to their homeland He must first recompense their iniquity double. God had on numerous occasions and by a variety of means punished his people in the past. They had experienced war, famine, pestilence, plague, and invasion before. But now to the horrors of war God will add the penalty of mass deportation to a foreign land. What else can God do with these people in view of the fact that they have profaned His land with their abominations and detestable things, i.e., their idols? Their lifeless images like dead carcasses pollute and defile the land (Jeremiah 16:18).
Jeremiah 16:19-21
D. Affirmation by the Prophet Jeremiah 16:19-21
TRANSLATION
(19) O LORD my strength and my fortress and my refuge in the day of trouble: Unto You the nations shall come from the ends of the earth and they shall say: Our fathers have inherited nothing but a lie, vain things which are good for nothing. (20) Shall a man make for himself gods? They are no-gods! (21) Therefore this time I will teach them! I will teach them My might and MY power, and they shall understand that MY name is the LORD.
COMMENTS
In his first prayer since the bitter complaint of Jer 15:15-18 Jeremiah indicates how completely he has changed. His whining, complaining accusation against God has given way to triumphant faith. He realizes now that God is his strength, his fortress and his refuge. This soldier is ready to get back on the firing line. He is ready to face insurmountable odds and attempt impossible feats because he knows that God is with him. He is ready to perform whatever duty God might lay before him. As God has reminded him that restoration will follow deportation Jeremiah is able to place the whole matter of national judgment in proper perspective. He comes to realize that the destruction of old Israel is but a prelude to the founding of new Israel. Suddenly he remembers the wonderful promise which God had made concerning the conversion of the Gentiles (Jeremiah 12:15-16). His mind leaps forward to that glorious day when chastened and redeemed Israel will be joined by peoples from distant lands who renounce forever their ancient attachment to idolatry. Those converted Gentiles realize that they have inherited nothing from their fathers religiously speaking but false and vain gods which are utterly worthless (Jeremiah 16:19). These Gentiles are amazed that anyone could ever have thought that the work of their own hands was deity (Jeremiah 16:20).
God responds to the prophet’s prayer of faith by revealing a little more of His grand purpose to him. Just as the forefathers of Israel had learned the significance of the name Yahweh (American Standard, Jehovah) when they were delivered from Egypt, so in the deliverance from Babylon they would come again to learn the significance of that name. God’s power and might in watching over, blessing and preserving His people in a foreign land would prove that He was universal sovereign and also a God of love.