Jeremiah 22-39

Again we’re learning here how super stubborn the Israelites are. Jeremiah keeps warning them that God is telling them to repent or be destroyed. They of course have all these false prophets calming the people and telling them everything is going to be ok. The people are tired of hearing Jeremiah’s grim (albeit devine and true) prophecies so they threaten to kill Jeremiah- but despite their attempts at imprisoning him and beating him, God always protected him. Jeremiah always passed along God’s message and God always kept Jeremiah safe.

I found the part about the Recabite Family interesting. Their forefather, Jonadab, made rules about not drinking wine or building houses or sowing seed and……they listened! So God says look at these people! Unlike the rest of you, this family knows how to listen so I’m ensuring they will always have someone serving me- so again the mom in me is saying like ok I get that. God isn’t promising them fortune or fame; He isn’t putting them on David’s throne; “simply” promising that their line is staying in line with God. As a mom, of course I want my kids to grow up to be successful, comfortable, healthy- but regardless of if they are at the top of a big company or a “starving artist” truly the most important thing to me is that they find God and stick with Him. Come what may- I know if they believe in and trust in God, they’re going to be ok. So that’s what I’m hearing here with the Recabites- your kids are probably going into exile in Babylon. They, along with some of the other Israelites, will get out of exile in 70 years; you will most likely be long gone; BUT they will still have God. So peeling back the layers a little bit here- that’s actually a pretty satisfying promise for a parent to hear about not only their kids but their future grandkids and their lineage.

I’m also enjoying watching the progression of the leadership here- so we have Jehoiakim, he’s not a fan of Jeremiah; he even burns the scrolls where Jeremiah has his prophecies recorded. And of course we remember from 2 Kings, That Jehoiakim gets killed and Nebechnezer puts Zedekiah in charge. Zedekiah seems a little bit more favorable to Jeremiah, not sure we could go so far as to say he likes him, but he at least isn’t actively trying to have Jeremiah killed. So anyway, Zedekiah takes over, the people still want to kill Jeremiah, Zedekiah basically says “fine, whatever you want to do,” they throw Jeremiah into a pit to die, z finds out about it and sends men to pull Jeremiah out, Zedekiah allows Jeremiah to live in the palace courtyard, Zedekiah calls Jeremiah to secretly ask him to pray for the people and then later to question him about what’s going to happen, surprise surprise Jeremiah’s predictions come true- Jerusalem falls to Babylon, Zedekiah gets taken- and sadly he watches as they kill his sons, then they take out his eyes and burn the palaces but Zedekiah gets to live. Then a semi surprising twist- Nebechanzer allow Jeremiah to live and go back to his people. God had told Jeremiah that He would protect him and we see this in an unlikely way, I guess I thought Jeremiah would be in prison and the prison walls would fall or something, not that this attacking king would just let him go. But isn’t that another good reminder for me- don’t assume with God, don’t just expect the expected, don’t put God in a box because He can do anything, He is writing this story, not me; it’s not up to me to give God multiple choice answers because in reality I don’t even know what the choices are!

What about you? Are you starting to get lost in all the names that I can’t even begin to pronounce and struggle to differentiate and keep up with sometimes? What were your takeaways here? We have 8 little weeks left so don’t give up; let’s finish strong! I am so proud of us for getting this far in our goal of reading the Bible and can’t wait to see what our next study goal is going to be!!