A heavenly conversation: A study in Jeremiah chapter 15

 Truth and Consequences: 

A study in the prophecy of Jeremiah

Lesson Fifteen (of 52):   A heavenly conversation

 

INTRODUCTION

And thank you, friends, for joining us today here in the Zoom room, as we unpack this 2^nd sermon of this section labelled Jeremiah 15. Let’s dig into it and find out what God has to say to us as 21^st Century people wherever you live and for those on YouTube, from wherever and whenever you are watching. 

Most of you will remember Tevye, the milkman, not from Shalom Aleichem’s tales in Yiddish, nor the 1939 Yiddish black and white movie (https://youtu.be/IMNP72gs1nM), but rather from Fiddler on the Roof. First on Broadway in 1964 with Zero Mostel and then for the last almost six decades in revivals worldwide. 

One of my favourite scenes is Friday afternoon, and Tevye and his horse are arriving back home, just before he has a few more deliveries in the village. Golda, his wife of 25 years, reminds him to hurry as the Sabbath is approaching. Tevye has a conversation with the Lord, in which he complains about his horse having turned up lame just before Shabbat. He tells God, “Was that necessary? That wasn’t nice. You blessed me with five daughters, a life of poverty…that’s all right. But what have you got against my horse? Sometimes I think, when things are too quiet up there…you say, “let’s see what kind of mischief I can play on my friend, Tevye.” As the next song ends, the pre-Shabbat work ends with “Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan if I were a wealthy man?”

There is no one in our pop culture world who characterised the freedom to converse with the Almighty more than Tevye. Our chapter today divides into two sections. And Tevye would be very comfortable with how this lays out. First God’s answer from the pleas of chapter 14 and then the end, which is Jeremiah’s continuing complaint about the situation.

1.     God responds to the prayers of Jeremiah (.1-9)

 It’s a wrap. It’s in the can. The conclusion is written, God says, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Even if you were to retrieve some ancients who knew how to get me go along with their plans, I won’t budge. You could bring in the heavy hitters like Moses or Samuel. They were keen intercessors in their days, but I won’t be dissuaded from my announcements. 

Why Moses and Samuel? Think back to Exodus 32-34 and the sin of the Golden Calf. Moses was so upset at his older brother for allowing the people to practice idolatry, and he was upset at the people for their sins, but in chapter 32.30, he cries out to the Lord to erase his own name from the Book of Life so that the people will live. That’s intercession. Aaron and he do something similar in Numbers chapter 16 when they grab the censor of incense and make their way through the camp of Israel, praying and saving them from the plans of the judgment of God. Moses is clearly one who prays.

Samuel was known as a prophet and yet in 1 Samuel (1 Sam 7.8ff, 12.19-23) we see him as an intercessor for the people. The people come to him and beg him to pray for them in the matter of the Philistines. And he does so!

God says, even if you had those guys come to the crease, I’d be able to bowl them out for a duck. I’m not going to be influenced. No amount of intercession for the Jewish people AT THAT POINT is going to make God change his mind. The exile is fixed. Sin will be punished and you are all going into captivity. Done. Dusted.

Those of you familiar with the scene in the Gospel might be keen for a segue. Recorded in Matthew 17, we read of the Transfiguration.

“Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.” (Matthew 17. 1-8)

Some points to note. Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets. Since both the Law and the Prophets speak of Yeshua as Messiah, so do these two; they testify of Yeshua. Peter’s voluntary spirit is not wrong, nor is his desire to build sukkot. He saw the Lord transfigured (Greek: metamorphed) before them and concluded, “If the Lord is here, in all his glory, and he’s the King of the Kingdom, then the Kingdom must be here and that is ushered in during the festival of Sukkot, so let’s build the appropriate edifices to announce this.” God says, “Shema, Peter…listen up.” God personally testifies of Yeshua and the three pillars: Peter, James and John, are all terrified. Yeshua touches them and encourages them not to be afraid. I love that encounter on many levels. 

I guess the natural segue for me is that in Jeremiah’s prophecy, God will not listen to the likes of Moses and Samuel, but in the Newer Testament, they are allowed to speak, for the sake of the testimony of Yeshua. (Revelation 19.10). 

Verse two: the people are desperate. Where can we turn? Don’t bother… there is no safe haven, no safe house, the end IS near. There are two lists of four shown. The first is the options for possible judgments. 1) disease leading to death, 2) war, 3) starvation or 4) exile and captivity in Babylon. 

Verse three: God says I will make this a disaster from four “kinds” of doom. But the word for ‘kinds’ is actually mishpochas, families of doom. It actually highlights to me the pain amplified. It’s not an outside issue; the reasons for our penalty is that we have taken sin in a familiar way. We’ve grown comfortable and invited the sin into our own homes. The Doom Family has four agents: sword (of war), dogs (Gentiles to drag us off to Babylon), birds of sky and beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 

Verse four: This is all caused by long-reigning king Menasheh. He ruled for 55 years until 642 BCE, that is, just before any recent folly. His father was good (Hezekiah) and his grandson (Josiah) was equally good,  but Menasheh brought ruin on Judah and the people loved him and followed his evil behaviour. We were not judged due to Menasheh, but because the people took his lifestyle and his sins on board. And God was gracious to wait, to give us time to repent, but we did not. 56 years after Menasheh died, God sent the Babylonians to take us captive. That’s what I call long-suffering.

Verse five: God laments in the middle of this announcement. Or maybe this is Jeremiah, and his three-fold questioning is clear. Who will have pity? Who will mourn? Who will keep asking about you? 

Verses six and following, God’s answer is clear. You are wrong, and getting worse, you will be sifted like chaff from wheat. 

A word on the final phrase in verse six. 

I am tired of relenting!

Yes, God is long-suffering. Peter says it this way, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and ¹its works will be burned up.“( 2 Peter 3.9-10)

Suffering long means patient. But not without care. God cares for us and we turned our back again and again, and he finds us exhausting! (Isaiah 1.14, 7.13, 43.24, Malachi 2.17)

There is a cost to God for his forbearance. And that point is made by Terence Fretheim cited in Christopher Wright’s commentary on Jeremiah. “Holding back the judgment they deserve (Isa. 42.14, 48.9, 57.11, Ezek 20.21-22, Psalm 78.38, Romans 2.4, 3.25) by carrying their sins on the divine shoulders, God chooses to suffer their infidelity in patience. Such continued divine restraint in the face of continual rejection must have meant for an intensification of suffering for God. Weariness entails a self-giving for the sake of the continuing relationship.” (page 174)

2.     Jeremiah responds to the Lord (.10-21)

If you have ever had dreams of people coming to faith, or you had considerable influence in a ministry setting, and that ministry changes to the dark side, or worse, fails completely, you would have had the feelings that Jeremiah felt in the 2^nd half of our chapter today. 

He turns to his own mother, no doubt, long gone, and says, “Why did you bear me? I’m not a creditor or a borrower, but everyone hates me.” Family matters. And the Jewish people are Jeremiah’s people and his family, but they have turned on him. 

Verse 10: Regret.

Verse 17, I didn’t sit with the merrymakers. I skipped the pub crawl and walked with you instead. I sat alone.

Verse 18: I stayed pure and followed the right path and look where it got me. 

Do you hear Tevye the milkman in his complaints? Do you feel comfortable talking with the Lord like this? I urge you… speak honestly to him. Do not hold back. He longs to be honest with you and for you to be honest with him. 

You might say, “But how can I pray like that? I’m not very good at public speech.” OK< where did Yeshua tell us to pray? On the street corners? In the public arena? No, in our closets. Alone. Between him and you alone. That’s where the rubber meets the road. That’s where honest living takes place. 

God would say, ‘Don’t linger in self-pity. Turn to me. Verse 19: if you turn to me, I will restore you.” Turn to me? You ask. Yes, his self-pity was useless. Humility is turning to the Lord and being honest with him. 

God’s promise to Jeremiah is God’s promise to you and to me. 

Verse 20-21: 

“For I am with you to save you and deliver you,” declares the LORD. “So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the ¹grasp of the violent.”

The Lord is longing to be our soul’s lover. He wants a relationship with us, with you and with me. Don’t linger in self-pity. Don’t linger in the acts of sin which will cost not only you, but also your family. 

Turn to Him. Self-pity is a pit. God’s arms are open wide. 

 

CONCLUSION

God is calling each of us to know him and to walk with him, today and throughout our days. Have you received Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? Have you renounced your sin, your idolatry, your forsaking God and given him First Place in your life? If not, please, do so now, just now, as we pray together. Use your own words, if you want, but yield, surrender, to the Lord of life. 

PRAYER

Then please write us (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) to tell us what you have just done, and we will send you literature and encourage you. You are part of our family; we love and appreciate you. And we want you to enjoy the presence of the Lord who calls, who knows, who blesses and builds us up. 

We hope to see you again next week as we study chapter 13. Until then, Shabbat shalom!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barnes, Albert, Albert Barnes’ Commentary on the Old Testament, 

Craigie, Peter; Kelley, Page; Drinkard, Joel. Word Biblical Commentary. Book of Jeremiah.  1991. 

Henry, Matthew, Commentary.

Weirsbe, Warren. Be Decisive. David Cook Publishers, Colorado Springs 1991.

Wright, Christopher, The Message of Jeremiah, The Bible Speaks Today, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2014.

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ACTUAL TEXT

Jer. 15:1   Then the LORD said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go!

²           “And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the LORD: 

            “Those destined for death, to death; 

            And those destined for the sword, to the sword; 

            And those destined for famine, to famine; 

            And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’

³ “I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the LORD: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴ “I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

 

Jer. 15:5            “Indeed, who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, 

            Or who will mourn for you, 

            Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

⁶           “You who have forsaken Me,” declares the LORD, 

            “You keep going backward. 

            So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; 

            I am tired of relenting!

⁷           “I will winnow them with a winnowing fork 

            At the gates of the land; 

            I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; 

            They did not ¹repent of their ways.

⁸           “Their widows will be more numerous before Me 

            Than the sand of the seas; 

            I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man, 

            A destroyer at noonday; 

            I will suddenly bring down on her 

            Anguish and dismay.

⁹           “She who bore seven sons pines away; 

            ¹Her breathing is laboured. 

            Her sun has set while it was yet day; 

            She has been shamed and humiliated. 

            So I will give over their survivors to the sword 

            Before their enemies,” declares the LORD.

 

Jer. 15:10          Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me 

            As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land! 

            I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me, 

            Yet everyone curses me.

¹¹          The LORD said, “Surely I will set you free for purposes of good; 

            Surely I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you 

            In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

 

Jer. 15:12          “Can anyone smash iron, 

            Iron from the north, or bronze?

¹³          “Your wealth and your treasures 

            I will give for booty without cost, 

            Even for all your sins 

            And within all your borders.

¹⁴          “Then I will cause your enemies to bring it 

            Into a land you do not know; 

            For a fire has been kindled in My anger, 

            It will burn upon you.”

 

Jer. 15:15          You who know, O LORD, 

            Remember me, take notice of me, 

            And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. 

            Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; 

            Know that for Your sake I endure reproach.

¹⁶          Your words were found and I ate them, 

            And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; 

            For I have been called by Your name, 

            O LORD God of hosts.

¹⁷          I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, 

            Nor did I exult. 

            Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone, 

            For You filled me with indignation.

¹⁸          Why has my pain been perpetual 

            And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? 

            Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream 

            With water that is unreliable?

 

Jer. 15:19          Therefore, thus says the LORD, 

            “If you return, then I will restore you — 

            Before Me you will stand; 

            And if you extract the precious from the worthless, 

            You will become My spokesman. 

            They for their part may turn to you, 

            But as for you, you must not turn to them.

²⁰          “Then I will make you to this people 

            A fortified wall of bronze; 

            And though they fight against you, 

            They will not prevail over you; 

            For I am with you to save you 

            And deliver you,” declares the LORD.

²¹          “So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, 

            And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.”