Jeremiah 31 - Introduction

REVIEW OF CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I. Facts to Master

1.

That which Jeremiah is told to write (Jeremiah 30:2).

2.

That which God will do for Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 30:3).

3.

The one the Israelites serve upon returning to their homeland (Jeremiah 30:9).

4.

That which will happen to the nations which had scattered Israel (Jeremiah 30:11).

5.

The figure used in Jeremiah 30:12-17 to depict the ter rible sin, punishment and restoration of Israel.

6.

The identity of the Ruler mentioned in Jeremiah 30:21.

7.

The new relationship which will exist between God and Israel in the future (Jeremiah 31:1; Jeremiah 31:9).

8.

The new thing which God will create in the land (Jeremiah 31:22).

9.

A proverb current in the days of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:29).

10.

That which God would make with Israel (Jeremiah 31:31).

11.

Jeremiah's personal condition during the siege of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 32:1-3).

12.

Jeremiah's prediction regarding king Zedekiah (Jeremiah 32:4-5).

13.

The name of Jeremiah's cousin who offered to sell a field (Jeremiah 32:7).

14.

The price of the field (Jeremiah 32:9).

15.

Significance of this act of purchasing the field (Jeremiah 32:15; Jeremiah 32:42-44).

16.

Name of a pagan god to whom the Jews sacrificed their children (Jeremiah 32:35).

17.

Jeremiah's personal situation at the time he de livered the oracle in Chapter 33.

18.

That which God will cause to sprout (Jeremiah 33:15).

19.

Special promises to the house of David and Levitical priests (Jeremiah 33:17-18).

II. Questions to Ponder

1.

What is the fulfillment of the promises to bring Israel and Judah back to Palestine? Were they fulfilled in the returns of Zerubbabel (536 B.C.) and Ezra (458 B.C.)? Do these promises have any relationship to the Zionist movement of recent years?

2.

In what way were the Jews encouraged to look upon their present trials? Jeremiah 30:4-11, esp. Jeremiah 30:11.

3.

What is the permanent lesson that can be learned from Jeremiah 30:12-17?

4.

What is the basis for thinking that the Prince of Jeremiah 30:21 is Christ?

5.

What figures of speech set forth the new relationship between Israel and God after the restoration? Jeremiah 31:2-5

6.

Matthew (Jeremiah 2:18) quotes Jeremiah 31:15 and says it was fulfilled when Herod slew the Bethlehem innocents. Is Jeremiah 31:15 then a direct prophecy of what would happen at Bethlehem or does Matthew simply mean to say there is an analogy be tween the two events?

7.

What is the new covenant predicted in Jeremiah 31? See Hebrews 8:8-12; Hebrews 10:16. Hebrews 10:17; Matthew 26:28; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25. In what respect is the new covenant superior to the old?

8.

What city does Jeremiah describe in Jeremiah 31:38-40, the earthly Jerusalem, the spiritual Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, or all three?

9.

How does the principle actions speak louder than words especially apply in chapter 32?

10.

How do the events of chapter 32 fit chronologically with Chapter s 30 and 37?

11.

Is it necessary for a people to face the future with confidence? Why? What is the only solid basis for hope?

12.

Why did the cousin come to Jeremiah and ask him to purchase the field? Jeremiah 32:6-8. Did Jeremiah fully understand the significance of the transaction?

13.

What seeming contradiction is Jeremiah attempting to work out in his prayer? Jeremiah 32:16-25

14.

What is significant about calling the Messiah a Shoot? Jeremiah 33:15. Where else is this designation used?

15.

Have the promises of Jeremiah 33:17-18 been fulfilled? When and how?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

OBEDIENCE AND DISOBEDIENCE

Jeremiah 34:1 to Jeremiah 36:32

In Chapter s 34-36 Jeremiah relates three incidents which vividly illustrate the disobedience of the people of God in general and their leaders in particular. The episodes as they stand in the book are in reverse chronological order. Chapter 36 relates an event which transpired in the year 605-604 B.C. Chapter 35 can be assigned to almost any year between 602 and 598 B.C. The event in chapter 34 transpired during the final siege of Jerusalem (589-588 B.C.). The section contains narrative prose primarily biographical in character. An action parable is recorded in chapter 35.

A NOTE ON THE CHRONOLOGICAL PLACEMENT OF Chapter S 32-33

Chapter 32 contains the following chronological details which aid in integrating this chapter into the chronological framework of the last days of Jerusalem: (1) It was the tenth year of Zedekiah which began in March/ April 588 B.C.; (2) the Babylonian armies were besieging Jerusalem; and (3) Jeremiah was shut up in the court of the guard. Now since the arrest of Jeremiah, his imprisonment and subsequent confinement to the court of the guard are recorded in chapter 37 commentators are all but unanimously agreed that chapter 32 follows chapter 37 chronologically. Of course the basic assumption in this placement is that Jeremiah was only once confined to the court of the guard. This reconstruction may well be correct. The present writer, however, would like to offer an alternative reconstruction.

A close relationship exists between chapter 32 and chapter 34 of Jeremiah. Chapter 34 relates how Nebuchadnezzar was fighting against Jerusalem (Jeremiah 34:1). Outlying fortresses were still holding out against the Chaldeans, Lachish and Azekah being named in particular (Jeremiah 34:7). This would imply that chapter 34 must be assigned to an early part of the siege. The Chaldean strategy seems to have been to eliminate all military outposts before beginning the siege of Jerusalem in earnest.

These were the circumstances which existed when God told Jeremiah to go and deliver an oracle to king Zedekiah (Jeremiah 34:2). The precise words of that oracle should be noted with great care. (See the chart which follows). Chapter 34 does not reveal what the reaction of the king was to this message of doom. In Jeremiah 34:8 the narrator jumps ahead to a later phase in the siege of Jerusalem. The present writer would suggest that Jeremiah 32:2-5 indicates what king Zedekiah did when he heard the word of the Lord. He ordered Jeremiah confined to the court of the guard which was in the house of the king of Judah.

In support of the above suggestion the following points can be made:
1. Chapter 32 gives all the appearance of being the initial confinement of Jeremiah in the reign of Zedekiah. There is not the slightest hint that he had previously been confined by the king.
2. In chapter 32 Jeremiah is confined in the court of the guard as a punishment for what he had preached. In chapter 37 he is placed in the court of the guard as an act of mercy (see 19-21). Surely this would indicate that the confinement in chapter 32 and that in chapter 37 must be two different occasions.
3. The message for which Jeremiah is confined in chapter 32 is very similar to the message which he de livered to Zedekiah at the beginning of the siege in chapter 34. (See following chart).

How then are the events concerning the confinement of Jeremiah to be arranged chronologically? In the tenth year of Zedekiah (March/April 588 B.C.) Jeremiah went to the king and delivered an oracle of doom (Jeremiah 34:1-7). He was arrested by Zedekiah and confined in the court of the guard in the house of the king (Jeremiah 32:1-5). When the Babylonians temporarily raised the siege in the summer of 588 B.C. the prophet was probably released. Since most of the inhabitants of Jerusalem thought the Chaldeans were gone for good there was no further reason for detaining the political prisoners who might have proved dangerous in time of siege. During the lull in the siege operations Jeremiah preached a blistering sermon against the Jerusalem nobles (Jeremiah 34:8-22). No doubt he made some bitter enemies among the princes because of this sermon. As Jeremiah attempted to leave the city to tend to some business in Anathoth, he was arrested by the guard and hailed before the embittered princes who threw him into a dungeon as a traitor (Jeremiah 37:11-15). When the siege resumed Zedekiah was anxious to receive a further word from the Lord and so he sent secretly for Jeremiah. The prophet reiterated in one terse sentence the threat that he had been making for some time against the king (Jeremiah 37:17). Since Jeremiah knew he was innocent of the charge of treason he pleaded with Zedekiah that he might not have to return to the dungeon where he had been kept for some time (Jeremiah 37:20; cf. Jeremiah 37:16). Zedekiah acquiesced in the request of Jeremiah and ordered him confined henceforth in the court of the guard (Jeremiah 37:21). Jeremiah continued to preach even in the court of the guard and so the princes demanded that he be put to death. Zedekiah gave in to the princes and Jeremiah was thrown into an abandoned well (Jeremiah 38:1-6). From thence he was rescued by Ebedmelech (Jeremiah 38:7-13) and confined in the court of the guard until Jerusalem fell to the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 38:28).

THE SERMON WHICH GOT JEREMIAH ARRESTED DURING THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM

Jeremiah 32:1-5

Jeremiah 34:1-7

Reference back to the sermon

The actual preaching

Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 4:3)

Thus says the LORD, Behold I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 4:2)

and he shall take it (Jeremiah 4:3)

and he shall burn it with fire (Jeremiah 4:2)

And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 4:4)

and you shall not escape out of his hand but you shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand (Jeremiah 4:3)

and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes. (Jeremiah 4:4)

and your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth (Jeremiah 4:9)

and he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon (Jeremiah 4:5)

and you shall go to Babylon (Jeremiah 4:3)

and there shall he be until I visit him (oracle of the LORD). Though you fight against the Chaldeans you shall not prosper (v.5).