“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” “I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times.
When reading Jeremiah chapter 4 we find Jeremiah questioning God's use of him. It’s not an easy thing to speak out God’s word. It wasn’t easy for Jeremiah – here we find him complaining about how God had deceived the people through his prophecies. Time has a way of revealing what is true and what is a lie. Jeremiah had just not lived long enough. If God said it that should settle it and how He does what He does should never be judged; questioned yes. Jeremiah reminded me how little I really know God.
Worse than a bloody hand is a hard heart.
A destroying lion and a scorching wind, clouds, whirlwinds, eagles...what does it all mean? In order to understand what God says we must first strive to understand God and learn His language. Let us strive to have a tender heart and be open to learn and not think we know.
A destroying lion and a scorching wind, clouds, whirlwinds, eagles...what does it all mean? In order to understand what God says we must first strive to understand God and learn His language. Let us strive to have a tender heart and be open to learn and not think we know.
At this point we need some background. These early prophecies of Jeremiah were apparently given in the middle period of the reign of King Josiah of Judah, after his 13th year (about 626 BC) when Jeremiah started to prophesy (1:1), and so after his 12th year when “he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols” (2 Chronicles 34:3). But these prophecies may have been given at about the time, in the 18th year of Josiah’s reign (about 622 BC), when Hilkiah the high priest (who could have been Jeremiah’s father) discovered the Book of the Law in the temple (2 Kings 22). This prompted Josiah to renew the covenant with the Lord and complete the task of cleansing his kingdom from idol worship (2 Kings 23). These may have been the events Jeremiah alluded to in chapter 3 when he describes how the people repented of their unfaithfulness, rejected idolatry and turned to the Lord. One might have expected the prophet to rejoice at this. But instead he sees how shallow it really was.
Just as the promises of peace were conditional, so were the prophecies of judgment – at least concerning timing. The prophecy of Jonah that Nineveh would be overthrown in 40 days (Jonah 3:4) was not fulfilled because the king and the people repented and turned to God – although Nineveh was overthrown much later, in fact in Jeremiah’s time. And then at about the same time as Jeremiah was giving these prophecies of chapter 4, the prophetess Huldah gave a rather similar prophecy of judgment (2 Kings 22:15-20) but also promised that it would be delayed until after Josiah’s death because of his personal repentance and openness to God – and that is what happened. Similarly there was a real chance in Jeremiah’s time that the people would repent deeply and sincerely this time, and the catastrophe would be avoided.
Sadly, as we will see over the next few weeks, this did not happen.
May our hearts not be similarly hard against God’s prophetic word. Let us pray…
Just as the promises of peace were conditional, so were the prophecies of judgment – at least concerning timing. The prophecy of Jonah that Nineveh would be overthrown in 40 days (Jonah 3:4) was not fulfilled because the king and the people repented and turned to God – although Nineveh was overthrown much later, in fact in Jeremiah’s time. And then at about the same time as Jeremiah was giving these prophecies of chapter 4, the prophetess Huldah gave a rather similar prophecy of judgment (2 Kings 22:15-20) but also promised that it would be delayed until after Josiah’s death because of his personal repentance and openness to God – and that is what happened. Similarly there was a real chance in Jeremiah’s time that the people would repent deeply and sincerely this time, and the catastrophe would be avoided.
Sadly, as we will see over the next few weeks, this did not happen.
May our hearts not be similarly hard against God’s prophetic word. Let us pray…
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