Turn back, people! Studies in Jeremiah chapter four

 Truth and Consequences:  A study in the prophecy of Jeremiah

Lesson Four (of 52): Turn Back People!

  INTRODUCTION

Happy Hanukkah to each of you. Three weeks ago we began this full-year study of the book of Jeremiah. And the YouTube activity is well in gear; thanks to those of you who are joining our class after we record and post the lecture part of it. Feel free to share what you are watching with your mates and don’t forget to subscribe. And thanks to each of you who is here live in the Zoom room Friday morning in Sydney. I like how you participate in the Q and A session. This is lively and I appreciate each of you.

Today’s lesson: Turn Back People!

Last week’s lesson ended with what appeared to be repentance. Listen to chapter 3, verse 22. God says, “Return oh faithless ones, I will heal your faithlessness.” Then immediately it sounds like the action expected is fulfilled. Same verse, the people of Israel say, “Behold we come to you for you are the Lord our God.” And again in verse 25, “we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”

 That sounds like Jeremiah was successful in convincing the Jewish people to make amends, to hook up with the Eternal One and live righteously. 

Unfortunately, that was aspirational only. As we read today, God’s anger piles up and the warning seem unheeded. Let’s jump into it.

1. 1. Get it right: Turn to me!

Verse one has that play on words we began to see last week. Remember the word for faithless was Meshuva. Shuv is the Hebrew word for ‘return’ or ‘turn’ and some of your versions of Bible called Israel “backsliding.” That’s a good way to demonstrate the failure God is correcting. We had turned away from God (meshuva) and he was calling us to return (shuv) to God. Isaiah said the same thing 100 years earlier with 45.22 “Turn to me and be saved!” It’s almost a spinning twirling dance move, isn’t it? We either turn towards God or we turn away from God. 

But it’s not the turn, is it? It’s the focus of our eyes which causes us to turn to or away from anything. Consider this. You are walking down the street in a quiet neighbourhood. All of a sudden a loud crash sounds behind you. You turn. Not for the sake of turning, but for the sake of seeing. What just happened? Is anyone hurt? Are you needed to ring the emergency crisis number or to assist immediately? All these questions are answered by your observation, and that’s assisted by your turning.

The advertisers on television or Val Morgan in the movies all want us to notice the items or experiences they are selling. And they use all kinds of devices to get us to look. That may involve a loud cymbal and our turning our heads or just the slightest motion of our eyes from one side to the other to see the splash of the waterfall or the squeezing of the lemon over the John Dory on the platter. Advertisers know that if they get us to look, they are more likely to secure our affection. Attention leads to affection. 

When my wife and I were leaving New York City in 1998 to move to Sydney, the removalists had taken everything from our unit on a Friday and we were scheduled to fly out a couple of days later. We had what we needed for the flights and that was all we had. That Sunday we went to our church at Grace Church in Greenwich Village, and walked back to our residence. On the way home we saw a street fair, those ubiquitous summer fetes when almost every block is closed for at least 10 hours to allow vendors to sell the same watches, crafts, jams, and assorted whatnot to the visiting throngs. We found our way through one and I found myself walking down the center. It was as if there were an aisle. The things on the sides were irrelevant to me. I had no room in any suitcase. I didn’t need anything else; all our bags were packed, we were ready to go. I actually wondered if this were what John Bunyan had in mind in 1678 when he published Pilgrim’s Progress. There Vanity Fair was in view, the caricature scene of amusement and vanity, of idle waste-of-time and frivolity. I literally walked through and felt smug, which is one of my character defects, and not the reason for my telling you this. I’m telling you this so that you feel the feeling I had of conquest, of not turning to the right or to the left. I didn’t have a need; I didn’t have any room; I was not lured. 

I did not turn. I had my face set like flint to go forward. That’s the place God wants for us. Walk to him; walk with him. Do not be lured by the world and its dainties.

But the way that works requires an initial turning. Let me explain.

If I’m living away from God and his plans; if I’m behaving towards outsiders in a wrong manner, in the three-fold sins of adultery, idolatry and murder, if I’m desiring approval and praise from others, then I have to turn away from all that to find God. It’s as if you are approaching a cliff in a car that’s going too fast, and there is a policeman, a mayor, a grandmother, and a big yellow and black sign all saying, “Stop, turn around, and go the right way.” You finally see the danger, believe the notifications and hit the brakes. You catch your breath and put the car in reverse, make a three-point turn and head the opposite direction. You have turned. And that’s what God wants in this verse one. 

The reason I tell you the story of Vanity Fair in NYC in 1998 is to help you with the ongoing desire of the Almighty. Yes, he wants you to stop going in the wrong direction and to turn to him. Yes, he wants a 180 from you. And THEN he wants for you to keep walking with him. Starting is good; finishing is better. See what I mean?

Verse one highlights this. 

The Hebrew says, “אִם־תָּשׁ֨וּב יִשְׂרָאֵ֧ל נְאֻם־יְהוָ֛ה אֵלַ֖י תָּשׁ֑וּב

If you are returning, then to me you should return. It’s not to a religion. It’s not to Moses or Joshua, to the rebbe or to Jeremiah. It’s to the Living God. Get on the path towards God and then keep going!

The heathen used to cry “Baal lives” in their worship ceremonies. No wonder Jeremiah says in verse 2, “you will swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ In truth, in justice and in righteousness;” חַי־יְהוָ֔ה

The Lord lives! Right where you are, in your home or at your computer, right there, on Zoom you are on mute, but I want you to cry out, “The Lord lives” “Chai Adonai!” “The Lord lives.” It’s a way of your saying that no matter what else is going on in your life, whatever else the world is saying …in all your circumstances of life, in your neighbourhood, in your relationships, in your work, in your failures, in your successes, in all these things, THE LORD LIVES.

Verse two tells me that God lives in truth, in justice and in right living. If Israel gets this right, look at the results. All the goyim will be blessed in him! Not in us, not in relationship to the Jewish people, but to God himself. Not in relationship to Torah, but to the Lord of life. And in him they will glory. That’s the goal for Israel, to help the nations get it right.

Verse three: Albert Barnes said of this break up 

“Break up. literally, Fallow for you a fallow ground, i.e., do not sow the seeds of repentance in unfit soil, but just as the farmer prepares the ground, by clearing it of weeds, and exposing it to the sun and air, before entrusting to it the seed, so must you regard repentance as a serious matter, requiring forethought, and anxious labour. To sow in unfallowed ground was practically to sow on land full of thorns.”

Look at the other imagery which again abounds in today’s chapter. Work on the fields and disrupt what is, and look at the heart and cut things off which don’t represent. In verse four they are evil deeds. God says to cut them off like foreskins in circumcision. These are pictures of disruption and cleansing. Removing and moving on.

1. 2. God’s judgment is coming

From verse five onwards, the chapter turns to evidences of judgment coming to Judah but as all good prophets before and after him, Jeremiah starts with five action verbs for Judah. 

Blow a trumpet

Cry aloud

Assemble yourselves

Lift up a standard

Seek refuge

If Judah will do these things, the warnings will be heard and Judah will repent and Judah will be spared. The nations up north are gathering; you are in trouble. So here’s the recipe for success:

Put on sackcloth

Weep and wail

More trouble is coming, so turn to verse 14 and see more instructions:

Wash your heart from evil

And yet. That’s one of the phrases I don’t see in the text, but I hear Jeremiah whispering this phrase. This sentiment is a ‘shake my head’ in modern social media. Jeremiah says what God tells him and the people are aware of the truth and the consequences, and yet. And yet, they choose to dismiss the warnings. They choose to go their own way. 

Verse 31 ends with the statement, “The cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, saying, “Ah, woe is me, for I faint before murderers.”

And yet. Are you shaking your head as I am at this? 

Matthew Henry writes of this chapter, “Compared with what it was, everything is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off.”

Weirsbe says, “God commanded the watchmen to blow the trumpet and alert the people to run to the walled cities for safety. That would have given them time to repent in sackcloth (verse 8) and to wash their hearts by confessing their sins. (verse 14). The Babylonian army, however, would come swiftly (verse 13) and do their job thoroughly.” Look at verse 18, ““Your ways and your deeds have brought these things to you. This is your evil. How bitter! How it has touched your heart!”

That’s when Jeremiah shakes his head again. Listen to verse 19 and following: “My soul, my soul! I am in anguish! Oh, my heart! My heart is pounding in me; I cannot be silent, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war; disaster on disaster is proclaimed, For the whole land is devastated; Suddenly my tents are devastated, My curtains in an instant. How long must I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?

The word ‘soul’ is not the usual word for soul, it’s May-eh, and is an internal organ, to be sure, but not the usual. It’s the word used in Jonah’s whale and where Jonah was for three days. וַיְהִי יוֹנָה בִּמְעֵי הַדָּג

I don’t know any other prophet who spoke in such openness about his own feelings in light of Israel’s failure. That is, I didn’t until I thought of Yeshua himself, who similarly saw the evil in the Jewish people, the failures, the disappointments and felt their pain. Yeshua moaned from above Jerusalem (recorded in Matthew 23).

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”

Pain for another is the key to understanding Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. His public stance might have been forthright and almost like a rugby front rower, but in private, he was a broken and sad man, wishing to take the place of those to whom he preached for 40 years.

Verse 20, disaster on disaster, or as we might say, Disaster on steroids. Think of Port Arthur, or 9/11, or Hurricane Tracy. And then add another one to that. Tents, landmarks, things we can count on… all gone. I’m speaking to you today from Nashville, Tennessee and this year Hurricane Ida blasted in atop much of the destruction which happened when a tornado hit in March, 2020, just before Covid hit. Imagine trying to survive one major problem after another. That’s the feeling Jeremiah is experiencing. 

Verse 22, Jeremiah says we should be as clever in honoring God as we are in finding ways around him. Listen to the verse again, “For My people are foolish, they don’t know Me; they are stupid children and have no understanding. They are shrewd to do evil, but to do good they do not know.”

What’s he saying? What’s the bottom line? What’s the way to be wise? TO KNOW GOD! All our wisdom and knowledge is information; what God wants is for us to be in relationship with him. But what does he see instead?

Verse 23: Judgment as if we were back to square one. Creation. Formless and void. Darkness. Empty. Pre-creation. 

Verse 28, God says I won’t nacham, I won’t relent, I won’t repent, I won’t comfort. I’m not about to change my mind. Then he uses the shuv word and says I won’t return or turn from it. You, Judah have to turn; if you want renewal and good life, turn and face me. Turn and repent, change your mind, and you will find comfort!

1. 3. The language of prostitution

“Normally, if citizens of an undefended city heard of the advent of a powerful army (“rider and archer,” v 29), they would take to the hills or seek some security in the impenetrable bush, leaving behind the forsaken city in the path of the enemy. Their city might be destroyed, but in any case they could not have defended it; flight would at least secure their lives. They would not be cowards, but realists; it is not particularly courageous to remain at home, with no defense, to face an overwhelmingly superior enemy.

But the citizens of Jerusalem would have no such wisdom when God’s army of judgment advanced on its walls. Jeremiah draws on the metaphor of the prostitute to convey his message of Jerusalem’s future folly. Jerusalem would dress herself up for the occasion, donning a bright scarlet dress, decking herself with gold bangles, highlighting her eyes to increase her seductive allure. But the whole exercise would be in vain, for clothes and bangles do not substitute for beauty; Jerusalem no longer knew that her beauty had long since fled, exchanged for a haggard countenance framed by a courtesan’s costume. She did not know that her hoped-for lovers were haters, wanting only her death.” (Craigie)

Matthew Henry ends his review of chapter four with this, “As sin will find out the sinner, so sorrow will, sooner or later, find out the secure.”

Let’s ponder our role today in association with our friends and neighbours. With our Jewish community and our family. And importantly, what will you do today with Yeshua, the veritable weeping prophet who cares about us, who longs for us to know the Father. Who died to make it available to us. 

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 5, and 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.

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Sinner or saint?

This blog was prompted by some Facebook conversation. The issue may be simplified to a binary consideration--which is true? Are believers to self-define as "a sinner saved by grace or a saint awaiting heaven?" The difference may be negligible to some, but let me see if I can unpack the differences. Back in the 1970s I used to read and reread two books which have stayed with me and in my mind for decades. They are Victory in Christ and Johannes Jorgensen's biography of St Francis of Assisi. I don't even remember who wrote that first book. What motivated me then still envelops me today. There are two realities in my life, and those two books well depicted each.

Victory contained a series of chapters highlighting our position in Messiah. Since Yeshua won the victory over death by his resurrection 2000 years ago, then we have nothing to fret, nothing to fear, nothing will cause us distress beyond our capacity. Paul the apostle wrote, "But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' O death, where is your victory? O death, Where is your sting?” but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah." (1 Corinthians 15.54-57)
John the apostle weighed in with "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith." (1John 5.4)

My life has taken this victory mentality seriously. I trust that God has done all that was necessary for me to survive, to win, to have an optimistic perspective. One of my life sayings is "Since Jesus is Lord, what is there to worry about?" It's similar with amendment to both Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine and Bobby McFerrin's 'Don't worry; be happy'. Newman's "What, me worry?' is close, but neither McFerrin nor Newman hit the right reason. Being happy, not worrying-- both good ideas, but on what do they base this happiness quotient?

That's why the book about our victory in Jesus is so significant. It taught me the position I have and should have each day. Because of the death of Messiah, I can feel good; I can overcome adversity; I saw the glass as half-full. I could sing happy clappy songs at church; I could withstand the rejections that came from being a full-on Jesus freak. No matter what others thought of me, God had welcomed me into his family and made me his. That sonship was rewarding then, in the present, and in the future. Positive attitude was mine, and that was victory.

I also read Jorgensen's biography of Francis. What a character from history. I knew nothing about the guy before about 1973, and two things helped me learn. One this book, which to this day, continues to assist me with another attitude, equally needed throughout the decades, and two, the movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon, by Franco Zeffirelli. It was released in 1972, and I saw it about a year or two later. If there is a single word that characterizes this 13th Century mystic, it would be 'humility.' And that character trait, more than any other, is one which I desperately need, and for which I long.

Perhaps those two themes, victory and humility, are what I considered when the Facebook conversation ensued. Should a believer define himself as a sinner saved by grace (humility) or a saint bound for heaven (victory)? I suppose it might be a matter of degree or timing, depending on whom you ask. And maybe that's why I found such a firm footing each time I would read either of those books. Yes, it's clear that we are failed humans, that our sin nature often finds us acting out in wrong behavior, and humility before a holy God is normal. Psalm 51 says "in sin did my mother conceive me" and a serious admission of sin by the great King David of Israel. (circa 1000 BCE). David said, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me."

Admitting our sin is right, and righteous. Admitting our sin is an honest mark of humility. And the result of that admission is the forgiveness that only God can fully extend. David said, "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." (51.7) and "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness." Victory comes and happiness is resultant from repentance.

"Never water down the word of God, preach it in its undiluted sternness; there must be unflinching loyalty to the word of God; but when you come to personal dealing with your fellow men, remember who you are - not a special being made up in heaven, but a sinner saved by grace." so said Oswald Chambers.

So what's the verdict? His blood has set me free. Victory comes, not because I'm so worry free, not because I'm so good, but because of God's awesome grace and forgiveness. My humility is the entry to the eternal hope of mankind, a relationship with God through Jesus, the Savior. This sinner saved by grace has the victory, and I'm singing tonight. Thanks be to God who gives me the victory.