November 19, 2020

 Jeremiah 8

The Valley of Slaughter

 “ ‘At that time, declares the LORD, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves.

 

They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped. They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like dung lying on the ground. 

 Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the LORD Almighty.’

Sin and Punishment

 “Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “ ‘When people fall down, do they not get up? When someone turns away, do they not return? 

 Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. 

God is Reasonable

• If you fall down (get up)
• If you turn away (return)
• But these people were clinging to deceit (they would not let go) (They would not stop) (the punishing would continue as long as they wanted to cling to their deceit)

 I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle. 

 Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD. 

 “ ‘How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? 

The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have? 

 Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. 

 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. 

God refers to the wound of his people (the punishment). Saying peace, peace means no one thinks what is happening is a serious thing. They take the affliction as a light thing. They say peace, peace to the people; but there will be no peace. It's good to be positive but it's also good to live in reality.   But what did God want?

What did the Lord want to happen? Why is all this happening? Why is the land in trouble? 

1. He wanted them to return.

2. He wanted them to stop saying things will get better because they will not get better. Things will get worse because wicked deeds were going on and God wanted them to speak and do actions of justice, speak right, stop the oppression....etc....

4. Saying peace, peace, was like ignoring God.  

No righteousness then no peace

God is the balm in Gilead 

He is the only one who heals. They needed him. But he wanted their attention in order to stop the deceit.

 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD. 

 “ ‘I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them. 

Shifting between God and Jeremiah 

 Why are we sitting here? 

Gather together! 

Let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there! 

For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him.

We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror. 

 The snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard from Dan; at the neighing of their stallions the whole land trembles. 

They have come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who live there.  

It shifts back to the words of the Lord:

“See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD. 

Back to Jeremiah expressing himself:

 You who are my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. 

Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away:   

(the people are exiled far away) 

“Is the LORD not in Zion? 

Is her King no longer there?” 

The people cry and God hears; they want the Lord God to come and rescue them but God in this moment is punishing.

Jeremiah says: Listen to their cry Lord....is the Lord in Zion? 

Is the King there?

( in my opinion it's not facts: The passage becomes emotional here. Jeremiah pleads and say Lord listen to their cry)

God goes on to answer him.

“Why have they aroused my anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?” 

Shifts back to Jeremiah

 “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”  Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me.  Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?

Jeremiah 9

 Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.  Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people. 

Jeremiah weeps

Jeremiah expresses his inner struggles with the situation.

According to the NIV study bible Jeremiah makes startling statements about his feelings toward God. Scholars say he lashed out at his fellow citizens but he loved them. In Chapter 8 he pleads for them however in Chapter 9 he criticizes their wickedness. 

 “They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.  “Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver,and every friend a slanderer. 

Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.  You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the LORD. 

 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: “See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people?  Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them. 

 Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?”  I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds have all fled and the animals are gone. 

• It is almost weird how the people who say peace, peace cannot acknowledge all the things the Lord is trying to show them as well as Jeremiah. Jeremiah weeps for them but he calls them unfaithful, wicked, and full of adultery. He sees what God sees about them but he loves them. God is the one who has sent him and he obeys God.

“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”  Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? 

Explain this:

1. Why is the land ruined?

2. Why is is laid waste like a desert?

 God wants them to know he is responsible for it. 

He awaits for them to explain it. 

He says who can explain it? 

He does not fear them.

He confronts them.

The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” 

 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.” 

 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them. Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids. 

The sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How ruined we are! How great is our shame! We must leave our land because our houses are in ruins.’ ” Now, you women, hear the word of the LORD; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament. 

 Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses; it has removed the children from the streets and the young men from the public squares. 

Say, “This is what the LORD declares: “ ‘Dead bodies will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them.’ ” 

 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,  but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. 

 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—  Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

I feel like weeping.

Jeremiah is a tough book.

I think God is reasonable. In this passage he is confronting people whom he says cling to deceit. They didn't want to stop or change. It seems to me they like things they way they were. Some people can repent and ask God for help. Others will say Lord you are right and be done. But according to this passage we read about a people who stubbornly cling to what they want. These scriptures differ from Isaiah. The only thing God promises is: if they hold on to the deceit they will see the Valley of Slaughter. God knows what is in the hearts of man and that is something we do not have the knowledge of. But we should be quick to repent because as we can see crying don't move God. He wants their actions and their words to change. 

Have a great day!