37:2 - A haunting legacy that sounds a great deal like the the descriptions of the lives of many of the kings in 1st and 2nd Chronicles. Zedekiah's name goes down as synonymous with faithlessness and corruption. It is passages like these that make me think about my own legacy? What is the legacy that I am going to leave behind? How about you? What will people say about us when we are gone? How will they summarize our lives? Live out an eternal legacy.
37:3 - The audacity of these leaders of Judah is boundless! They reject God's call to faithfully follow Him...they deny that Jeremiah's prophecies are legitimate and call him a liar...they serve only themselves and oppress the weak...yet when things get tough they come running immediately to Jeremiah, asking him to put in a "good word" with God. We act like this sometimes, don't we? Live our lives completely oblivious to the presence of God and the work of God in this world...totally focused on ourselves and our pleasure...and then everything falls apart and we go running to God. God deserves so much more from us.
37:12 - What does it mean when it says that Jeremiah is going out to receive his portion from among the people? Well, it seems that Jeremiah is leaving Jerusalem after the Babylonian siege has been lifted for a short time...he is going to the land of his ancestors - the Benjaminites - and will lay claim to his share of the land there. He knows for a fact that there is not going to be much left of Jerusalem, so he is going to get the ancestral land he is due. But the guards accuse him of trying to turn traitor and go over the other side and they beat him and throw him in prison. Old Testament prophet is a really tough gig!
38:2 - I read these passage and you have to give Jeremiah credit for his willingness to speak the truth that God has placed on his heart no matter what...his commitment is incredible! At any time, in any culture on the earth - telling people on your side to give up and go over to the side of the enemy would be considered treasonous behavior and probably be worth getting killed for. But Jeremiah knows that his words are the truth from God, and he cares more about the people of Israel than he does about his own life. He wants to give them a chance at salvation and continues to teach the hard truth even when death is looming over his head. And to think, there are times when you and I are scared to represent God's name and truth because somebody might think we're weird...pretty pathetic.
38:6 - I thought it was interesting that the passage very clearly states that Jeremiah was lowered down by ropes into the cistern. I mean, they want to kill this guy right? They hate his guts...why not just shove him in the cistern and get it over with? I think that they lower him down into the cistern so they won't have his blood on their hands figuratively. I think in some twisted way they have convinced themselves that if they place him on the bottom of the well alive and he "just happens" to die of natural consequences (Like starvation or death by mud), then they won't actually be the ones that killed him. Just an interesting detail, that further illustrates the twisted nature of the leaders of God's people.
38:12 - Here we have another interesting detail that is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the first...Ebed-Melech not only fights for Jeremiahs release and goes to get him out of the well, but he very compassionately even brings some old rags along so that the ropes will be more comfortable under Jeremiah's arms. This speaks pretty highly to the kind nature of Ebed-Melech. The group that puts Jeremiah in the well, lowers him gently to the bottom, not out of courtesy, but because they want to cover their own butts. Ebed, who could have just pulled Jeremiah up roughly and still been seen as a faithful man of God, shows the true depth of his character by taking time to get rags and see to Jeremiah's comfort as well as safety. Often times faith is lived out in the little, everyday, details of courtesy and loving-kindness.
38:22 - Very ironic - Jeremiah tells the king that he sees a vision of the king stuck in mud as the kingdom crashes down around him, a short after Jeremiah himself has literally been trapped in mud at the bottom of a cistern. Great writing! I also wonder if this gives us some clue as to how Zedekiah is caught in verse 39:5 after he runs away from Jerusalem. It says he was caught on the plains of Jericho...was it muddy that day? Did the mud slow up the horses...did a chariot break an axle? We don't know but it is interesting to theorize - maybe the Babylonians came upon the powerful king of Judah bogged down in mud, in a filthy and pathetic state.
38:24 - The king knows exactly what is going to happen - Jeremiah has told him over and over - but instead of acting like a true leader, he orders Jeremiah to be silent about the prophecy and he ignores the warnings yet again. The king refuses to trust God to the end, which fits in perfectly with the legacy of faithlessness that already permeated his life.
39:6 - This is a horrifying and heartbreaking end to the story. All of his sons would have lived, if he had just listened to Jeremiah...if he had just trusted God. Jeremiah told him that he and his family would be spared if they gave themselves up tot he king...but in his pride he refused and his kids paid the price for it. They are all slaughtered before his eyes and the vanquished king is blinded and dragged off to Babylon as a showpiece of the victory. How often to this day, to children pay the price for the sins of their parents? Parenting is a sacred duty that requires our total commitment and faithfulness...things that were not abundant in Zedekiah. Hopefully that is different for you.
39:12 - Why is it that the king of Babylon sends out orders for Jeremiah to be freed and taken care of? It is possible that the king has heard that Jeremiah has been prophesying about Babylon's victory and the supremacy of the king from people who have deserted Jerusalem. That would make sense. But we cannot discount the fact that Jeremiah is under the protection of God and the simplest explanation could be that God made it so...God moved Nebuchadnezzar's heart to release the prophet. Either way, Jeremiah's faithfulness is honored in the end.
39:16 and 18 - Because Ebed-Melech made the counter-cultural choice to stand with Jeremiah, thus aligning himself with God, he was one of the few leaders of Jerusalem that was spared. There are times when living faithfully is difficult, but we mus always remember that trusting God and fighting for His kingdom in this world will always pay off in the end.
1 comment:
Brandon, unfortunately in the field of education, I see alot of the "children carrying the sins of the parents. There are more single parent situations and children with parents that were teens when they were born. We were so fortunate to have parents that cared for us physically and spiritually. I like to think that I can give this to not only my only children with abounding love, but to my students who have never encountered it. Parenting is hands down, the coolest, hardest, most precious, & most rewarding thing I have ever done, and I am blessed with a husband who is an amazing father and strong spiritual leader for the boys and I.
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