34:17 - You can turn your bibles back to Deuteronomy chapter 15 and read through the laws that God set up with regards to the treatment of slaves. This is yet another area where God shows His incredible, culture-changing compassion. In this ancient world, slaves were taken by war and by debts and they were kept forever...they were harshly mistreated. We may be asking ourselves - why would God even allow slavery? I think this is another instance of God allowing human beings to work through their hard-heartedness...God allowed them to keep slaves, but demanded that they be treated kindly. Most of the slavery among fellow Jews had to do with unpaid debts and the relationships was really more like indentured service. The reason I bring up Duet. 15 is so that we can all understand that treating slaves like human beings was part of God's covenant with the people. When the rich and powerful people of Israel go back on their promises of freedom and take their slaves back after releasing them - they break their covenant with God (Yet again). God does not go back on His promises, so this does not sit well with Him. God hates when the strong oppress the weak and He hates it even more when His own people are doing it!
34:18-19 - This is another passage that references God's covenant with His people. In Genesis 15:7-21 we see a covenant making ceremony between Abraham and God. Abraham slaughters and divides multiple animals and lays them out in a path...with half of each animal on each side. God (As a smoking firepot - doesn't that sound cool!) and Abraham walk through the bloody path together as a symbol of their covenant. This ceremony is a way for Abraham to acknowledge that if he breaks the covenant with God, he will be slaughtered like the animals they walked through. As we read before - Zedekiah and the other powerful leaders in Israel have broken their covenant with God, and they will face the consequences of their actions. It would probably do us all some good in current-day Christianity to consider more often the seriousness of our own covenant with God. God takes His promises seriously - do you? Does your commitment to be a disciple of Jesus Christ permeate every area of your life?
35:14 - The teaching illustrations that Jeremiah uses are incredible! Here God instructs Jeremiah to use the Recabite people as an illustration. See, these people are an extremely conservative branch of Judaism. The patriarch of the family, Jonadab, instructed his children and followers not to drink any wine, not to plant crops and not to live in permanent houses. They preferred to stay more connected with their roots as shepherds and nomads. So this human being, Jonadab, asks his children to follow rules that are not even necessary for God worship and they do it faithfully. Yet the Israelites refuse to listen to the warnings and call of God as He tries to guide them over and over. Jeremiah compares the faith of both parties to highlight the depravity of the nation. It seems absurd that people would be able to commit themselves fully to limitations placed on them by a peer group, yet refuse to submit to the will of their creator, but it happens all the time doesn't it? I have high school kids that will memorize 200 lines for a school play but never even read their bible. I have other students who punish their bodies to become better athletes who give their relationship with God no real consideration. How about you?
36:5 - So why was Jeremiah banned? We do not know for sure, but you can bet that it was because everything that came out of his mouth made people feel uncomfortable. I mean, you are reading the book with me right? Everything the man says is divisive and negative (And also directly from the mouth of God)...so I guess finally the priests got tired of him and banned him from teaching in the temple. Maybe it happened back in chapter 26 where the people almost lynched Jeremiah for his strong words...any way you cut it, it is just another sign that the people refuse to listen to the voice of God.
36:23-24 - I mean, it would be crazy to burn a scroll that came from a prophet of God regardless, but this is just twisted and insane. The king sits there and listens to the prophecy word for word and just cuts off little bits and burns them one after the other. The arrogance and sickness here is colossal! The picture that comes to mind for me is Mr. Dursley burning the hundreds of letters that Harry Potter receives inviting him to Hogwarts one at a time in the first movie. Dursley has this look of insane glee on his face as he burns them and I bet Jehoakim looked pretty similar. Neither the king nor any of his officials feel any fear and they listen to the words of God and then burn them...their disgusting arrogance will seal their own fate.
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