Life As An Object Lesson

INTRO

Jeremiah’s message does not change much in these chapters. We will continue to see Jeremiah walking out his obedience to proclaim God’s message. As a prophet, Jeremiah experienced the words that he proclaimed. For example, Jeremiah 14:7 said, “Though our guilt testifies against us, Yahweh, act for Your name’s sake. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against You.”God responded to Jeremiah in 14:11: “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not pray for the well-being of this people.’”Israel had not repented in response to Jeremiah’s message.

TEACHING

Jeremiah 15: After the Lord told Jeremiah to stop praying for His people in chapter 14, the Lord declared that He wouldn’t even listen to the prayers of Moses or Samuel if they were to pray for Israel (v. 1). In verse 10, Jeremiah voiced a complaint to the Lord. He was tired of people questioning him because of his messages. Even though Jeremiah had some complaints, he found delight in God’s words (v. 16).

Jeremiah found his nourishment in God’s Word. Jeremiah knew the reality of what Hebrews 4:12 says: “The word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.” Jeremiah found comfort in God’s Word. That same comfort is available to us no matter what situation we may find ourselves in.

Jeremiah 16:1–4: This chapter outlines specific things Jeremiah had to do to walk out his obedience as God’s prophet. Nelson’s Commentary notes, “Jeremiah’s life became a symbolic act that was a representation of the nation’s struggle.”¹ Anything that God commanded Jeremiah to do would represent something Israel was either currently facing, or would later go through. This was not an uncommon way for God to send a message to His people. Thompson pointed out, “Hosea’s unhappy marriage (Hosea 1—3), Isaiah’s family (Isaiah 7—8), the death of Ezekiel’s wife (Ezekiel 24:15–27), and Jeremiah’s call to remain unmarried are all examples of the proclamation of the word through family events.”²

God commanded Jeremiah to not marry or have children. Nelson’s Commentary observed this was abnormal in a culture in which large households were indicators of God’s blessing.³ For a prophet to not marry was almost equal to that prophet declaring his desire to not receive God’s blessing. God forbade Jeremiah from marrying and having children because of the fate that awaited God’s people when Babylon came against Judah (v. 4).

Psalm 137:8–9 depicts this: “Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who pays you back what you have done to us. Happy is he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks.” In a way, God restricting Jeremiah from marrying spared Jeremiah the pain of seeing this happen to his children. This is a foreshadowing of the end times: “So when you see the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains! A man on the housetop must not come down to get things out of his house. And a man in the field must not go back to get his clothes. Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days! Pray that your escape may not be in winter or on a Sabbath”(Matthew 24:15–20). Things will be so bad that you will want children to be spared.

Jeremiah 16:5–9: Jeremiah was also prohibited from mourning. Many people, regardless of their social standing, would die in God’s judgment. So many in fact that, those still living would not be able to “cut himself or shave his head for them” (v. 6). Nelson’s Commentary described cutting oneself as a pagan mourning ritual.⁴ Jeremiah was not to participate in mourning on any level because of the judgment of God that would come.

Jeremiah was also not permitted to feast with the people (v. 8). God promised he would “eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness” (v. 9).

Jeremiah 16:10–13: In response to Jeremiah’s message, the Israelites would ask three questions: “Why has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?” (v. 10) The Israelites had completely missed the point. As God outlined how the people had abandoned Him, Nelson’s Commentary notes how Israel had completely abandoned their covenant with the Lord.⁵ While the people’s fathers had initially abandoned the Lord (v. 11), the current generation “did more evil than your fathers” (v. 12). They couldn’t simply pass the guilt on to their parents. They were also responsible for their own sin. The Israelites would be sent to Babylon for 70 years where they “will worship other gods both day and night” (v. 13).

Jeremiah 16:14–15: After all of this bad news, the Lord gave the people some good news through Jeremiah. Eventually the Lord would bring His people back to Israel.

Jeremiah 16:16–21: Before things got better, things would first be difficult. The Babylonian army would go throughout the countryside hunting down God’s people. Nelson’s Commentary notes the hunting and fishing language in verse 16 is a metaphor for deportation.⁶ Ezekiel used a similar metaphor in Ezekiel 12:13: “But I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he will not see it, and he will die there.” Amos 4:2 says, “The Lord God has sworn by His holiness: ‘Look, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, every last one of you with fishhooks.”

Jeremiah 17: Trusting in man is futile (v. 5), but the person who trusts the Lord is blessed. (v. 7) People’s hearts are “deceitful” (v. 9), and only the Lord can truly know a person’s heart. (v. 10).

CLOSING

Jeremiah’s message to Israel was not pleasant. Though Jeremiah proclaimed judgment, God also promised to restore His people to the land.