Jeremiah chapter 25

 

Memory verse: Jeremiah 25:4

 

Jeremiah was given the very difficult task of being the final warning to Judah before it was destroyed by Babylon. The northern kingdom of Israel had already been destroyed by Assyria (2Kings 17). Josiah was the last good king of Judah. 4 of his relatives were the last kings. By this time it was too late to turn back the judgment of God. The Babylonians were coming, even if they repented. The only thing left for them to do in order to avoid total destruction was to submit to God’s punishment by the hand of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah preached that if they humbled themselves in this way, God would spare them from annihilation. This seemed like treason to the Israelites. They accused him of colluding with the Babylonians. False prophets challenged the authenticity of his message. They threw him in the dungeon (Jeremiah 37-38). After the Babylonians invaded, they freed Jeremiah. Zephaniah preached during the early part of Jeremiah’s ministry. Habakkuk, Ezekiel, and Daniel prophesied during the latter part of his ministry. However, Jeremiah mostly had to stand on his own and rely on God who promised to protect him. He is called the weeping prophet because of the tears he shed for Judah who refused God’s warning (Jeremiah 9:1 & 18, Jeremiah 13:17, Jeremiah 14:17, Lamentations 2:11, Lamentations 3:45). Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations after Judah was destroyed.

 

Day 1 – the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets

Verses 1-7

The calendar system we use today of B.C. and A.D. were not in use in the days of the Bible. That is based on the birth of Jesus Christ, although it is off by about 4 years. Jesus was actually born about 4 B.C. They used other time markers such as the exodus from Egypt (Numbers 1:1, 1Kings 6:1). Another was the reign of kings. Jeremiah started preaching in the 13th year of Josiah. Therefore he had been preaching to Judah for about 22 years, but the people failed to heed the word of God (2Kings 22:1). The Lord also sent many other prophets, some before Jeremiah and some at the same time. They told the people that God was calling them to repentance so they would not be destroyed by their own sins. God wanted to bless them to enjoy the land He gave them. He told them to get rid of their idols, and then He would not judge them. They refused, and provoked His anger against them. The haters of God like to accuse Him of being harsh and destructive. God gave Israel many, many chances to avoid the consequences of their actions. He was extremely patient for almost 1,000 years. When they would repent, He would forgive them, and forestall their judgment. They continued to fall away and be disobedient until there was no more remedy but judgment. They rejected and persecuted His messengers (2Chronicles 36:15-16, Matthew 23:29-39, Mark 12:1-12). There never was any basis for this ridiculous false allegation against God, but since Jesus died for us on the cross, it is even so much more so. He died for us who lived as sinners (Romans 5:6-8).

 

Day 2 – I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it

Verses 8-14

God told Israel from the days of Moses that if they continued to sin, eventually their enemies would come against them until their nation was destroyed (Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, 1Kings 8, 2Chronicles 7). Now it was coming to pass by the hand of the Babylonians. There would be no more joy, no more weddings, no more people grinding wheat, and no more candles burning – no more activity, and total emptiness. The land was going to lay desolate for 70 years. It was this passage that Daniel read which led him to pray, fast, and confess the sins of his nation (Daniel 9:2). Babylon was the instrument of God’s wrath toward Israel, but they too would see their day of judgment. They forgot it was God judging His people, not their greatness. They thought they were invincible and exempt (Isaiah 47, Jeremiah 50-51, Daniel 4). People need to be very careful about wanting to see the judgment of God, especially against the people of God (Amos 5:18-20, Zechariah 1:14-16). We are all worthy of it. We need to be those who seek for mercy, not judgment (Romans 2:1-11). Even when judgment is necessary, there must be temperance, and not unbridled anger and a motive of vengeance (2Chronicles 28:9-11, Ezekiel 25, Amos 1).

 

Day 3 – take the wine cup of this fury at my hand

Verses 15-26

Wine and the winepress are sometimes symbolic of judgment and the wrath of God (Genesis 49:11-12, Deuteronomy 32:32-33, Psalm 60:3, Psalm 75:8, Isaiah 63:3, Jeremiah 13:12, Jeremiah 25:30, Jeremiah 51:7, Lamentations 1:15, Amos 2:8, Revelation 14:8-10 & 19-20, Revelation 16:19, Revelation 19:15). Wine is called the blood of the grape (Deuteronomy 32:14). The winepress is where the grapes which were used to make wine were placed. People would walk on them and smash them to squeeze the juice out of them. There were many uses of the grape, only one of which was to make an alcoholic beverage. The Hebrew and Greek words translated wine in the Bible do not always mean an alcoholic beverage. In fact, they don’t always even mean a liquid. In some places, it means raisins. People who want to justify drinking alcohol like to point to Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding (John 2:1-11). There are several reasons to believe this was not alcoholic wine, but grape juice. This was formal Jewish wedding feast. The Passover was approaching (John 2:13), before which nothing fermented was allowed for seven days (Exodus 12:15 & 19). A firkin was about 9 gallons. The 6 pots held 12-18 firkins. They were made of stone, which they would not have polluted with leaven. They were special pots for purifying. That is 108-162 gallons of wine Jesus gave to a group who had already drunk plenty. This does not sound like the kind of party Jesus would have attended, much less created, if it was alcohol. The good wine to these people would have been the freshest unfermented grape juice, not fermented alcohol. Drunkeness is not condoned by the Bible (Proverbs 20:1, Proverbs 23:20-35, Proverbs 31:4-5, Ephesians 5:18). A thorough study of this topic is a book called “Bible Wines” by William Patton. God told Jeremiah to take the wine cup of His anger, and make the nations drink it. All of the nations of the middle-east and Egypt were mentioned as well as all the nations of the world.

 

Day 4 – thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink

Verses 27-33

God was not only judging Israel. He was judging the whole world. Other Old Testament prophets such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Zephaniah also predicted the international nature of the judgment that was coming. If a nation thought they were going to somehow escape it, God said that He was judging His own people and the city called by His name. Why should they be unpunished? The dead would be all over the face of the earth and left unburied. Some people think it doesn’t matter what we do with the bodies of the dead. Desecration of the dead is a sign of the judgment of God. A decent civilized society treats its dead with dignity. Pagan and savage societies do not.

   A. No burial dishonors the dead   

      1. Levite’s concubine – Judges 19:29   

      2. House of Jeroboam – 1Kings 14:11  

      3. Jezebel – 2Kings 9:10 & 34-35   

      4. Enemies of God – Psalm 53:5   

      5. Judged Israelites – Psalm 79:3   

      6. Judged Israelites – Psalm 141:7   

      7. Man of vanity – Ecclesiastes 6:3   

      8. King of Babylon – Isaiah 14:19-20   

      9. Judged Israelites – Jeremiah 8:1-2, Jeremiah 14:16, Jeremiah 16:4-6   

      10. Jehoiakim – Jeremiah 22:19   

      11. The world – Jeremiah 25:33  

      12. Judged Israelites – Ezekiel 6:5, Ezekiel 37:1 & 11   

      13. Daniel’s enemies – Daniel 6:24   

      14. 2 prophets – Revelation 11:7-9

   B. Bodies being burned is a desecration of the dead   

      1. Jeroboam’s altar – 1Kings 13:2, 2Kings 23:14-18   

      2. False altars – 2Kings 23:20   

      3. The afflicted – Psalm 102:3   

      4. Judged Jerusalem – Ezekiel 24:10   

      5. King of Edom – Amos 2:1   

      6. Judged Israelites – Amos 6:1

 

Day 5 – howl, ye shepherds, and cry

Verses 34-38

Those in leadership have a greater level of accountability, especially those in spiritual leadership (1Timothy 3, Titus 1:5-9, Hebrews13:17, James 3:1). Unfortunately, sometimes those in power, especially political power, think that they are exempt from the experience of the people they lead. They think they are free from judgment. The more they get away with things, the more confident they become of it (Ecclesiastes 8:11). They think they are so smart they can beat the system. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool God any of the time. For example, in 2012 UIC Professor Dick Simpson issued a report naming Chicago the most corrupt city in America. From 1976 to 2012 1,531 public officials in the Chicago area were convicted of corruption. Including the rest of Illinois, the numbers is 1,828. 4 of 7 Illinois governors during that time were convicted, and another was under investigation before deciding not to run for re-election. That is why Jesus made it clear to his disciples that they were not to think of themselves as greater than others, but to see themselves as servants to those they lead (Matthew 18:1-4, Matthew 23:11, Mark 9:33-37, Luke 22:24-26, John 13:3-17). Those they lead are to show them the proper respect.