Examples Of Faithfulness

INTRO

Determining the prophetic timing of all of Jeremiah’s messages can be difficult. Yesterday we learned about Israel’s restoration in Jeremiah 33. Jeremiah bought land as a sign of Israel returning to the land, but all indications from the text were that this has not yet occurred in our lifetime. While Israel has returned to the physical space of their nation, we have yet to see the full gathering of God’s people because many of them are still scattered. Prophecy, especially many of Jeremiah’s prophecies, have an “already, but not yet” property. While some details of the prophecy may have come true, their complete fulfillment has yet to occur.

TEACHING

Jeremiah 34:1-3: Jeremiah had been imprisoned by Zedekiah (Jeremiah 33:1) and was still being held when Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem. One round of deportations to Babylon had already occurred, and Nebuchadnezzar was back to take more people away. As the chaos of an invading army was taking place, Jeremiah pronounced a word to King Zedekiah from the courtyard as a prisoner.

Jeremiah was in prison because he had spent the last 23 years proclaiming God’s coming judgment and their need for repentance. Now, even as a prisoner with Nebuchadnezzar at the gates, Jeremiah pronounced yet another judgment: Jerusalem would be delivered to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar would burn the city, and Zedekiah would be handed over to Nebuchadnezzar (vv. 2–3).

Jeremiah 35:1–11: Chapter 35 moves back in time to the days of Jehoiakim, King Josiah’s son. At that time, Jeremiah summoned the Rechabites to the temple, set wine before them, and told them to drink it. However, because one of their ancestors had commanded their family to never drink wine, the Rechabites declined. They had never drank wine, and they had lived outside the city without owning their own land or vineyards, also in obedience to their ancestor, until the first time the Babylonians marched against Jerusalem.

Why include the account of the Rechabites here when it is out of chronological order? Perhaps the Rechabites were a remnant, an example to God’s people of complete obedience to their ancestor out of their trust in God.

Jeremiah 35:12–17: God wanted Israel to demonstrate the same level of faithfulness to Him that the Rechabites had to their ancestor. But because they had ignored the messages of the prophets, God promised that He would bring judgment on them.

Jeremiah 36:1–8: Jeremiah still had yet to return to the present day. He recorded another event that occurred during the reign of Jehoiakim in chapter 36. God commanded Jeremiah to record all of the words He had spoken to him during the 23 years in which God had given Jeremiah messages to proclaim. God’s heart was that His people would hear the reading of Jeremiah’s messages and they would turn from their sin (v. 3).

Jeremiah dictated all of his prophecies to Baruch, who recorded them. Jeremiah then charged Baruch to go read the prophecies in the temple because Jeremiah was “restricted” (v. 5). MacArthur notes the Hebrew word for restricted is the same word used in Jeremiah 33:1 and 39:15 to describe imprisonment.¹ This restriction would have been an imprisonment that was distinct from the one mentioned in Jeremiah 33.

God’s command to record all of Jeremiah’s prophecies would have taken some time to accomplish because Baruch had to write them all by hand. It is possible that while chapter 36 begins in the past, by the time Baruch was charged to read the prophecies in the temple, the story had caught up to the time that Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem as described in Jeremiah 34. The “day of fasting” (v. 6a) on which Baruch was to read Jeremiah’s prophecies at the temple may have been called in response to Nebuchadnezzar’s presence at the gates. This would also explain why Judeans from the countryside had come to the city (v. 6b). This is similar to the scene that played out in 2 Chronicles 20:1–4:

“After this, the Moabites, and Ammonites, together with some of the Meunites, came to fight against Jehoshaphat. People came and told Jehoshaphat, ‘A vast number from beyond the Dead Sea and from Edom has come to fight against you; they are already in Hazazon-tamar’ (that is En-gedi). Jehoshaphat was afraid, and he resolved to seek the Lord. Then he proclaimed a fast for all Judah, who gathered to seek the Lord. They even came from all the cities of Judah to seek Him.”

Jeremiah 36:9–20: Constable notes the first eight verses describe Jeremiah’s writing of the scroll. Verses 9–26 then describe the reading of the scroll.² After Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of all the people, he was commanded to come read it before “all the officials” (v. 14). The message Baruch read to the officials filled them with fear, and they decided the king also needed to hear this message (v. 16). The officials asked Baruch for clarification on how he had written these words, questioning if Baruch was the source of the messages or if he had recorded the messages at Jeremiah’s dictation (v. 17). Officials instructed both Baruch and Jeremiah to hide themselves (v. 19). Jehoiakim had already murdered the prophet Uriah because he did not like Uriah’s words (Jeremiah 26:20–23). The officials put the scroll away and then told the king about it.

Jeremiah 36:21–26: The king sent for someone to get the scroll and then listened to it being read while he sat in his chamber by a fire because it was winter (vv. 21–22). As the scroll was read, Jehoiakim cut the scroll and threw the pieces into the fire (v. 23). The king and his officials were completely unconcerned about God’s judgment pronounced through Jeremiah (v. 24). Baruch and Jeremiah had listened to Micaiah’s charge to flee. They could not be found when the king commanded them to be seized because “the Lord had hidden them” (v. 26).

Jeremiah 36:27–32: After the king burned the original scroll, the Lord commanded Jeremiah to rewrite the scroll (v. 28). God pronounced that Jehoiakim “will have no one to sit on David’s throne . . . I will punish him, his descendants, and his officers for their wrongdoing” (vv. 30–31).

CLOSING

Isaiah 40:8 states, “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.” When King Jehoiakim burned the Word of God, God commanded Jeremiah to rewrite the Word. What God wants to communicate no man can take away. God is looking for people who will be faithful to Him and His Word like the Rechabites and like Jeremiah.