Chapter 16
Chapter 16:1-13 contains warning to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 16:1-21 contains a promise to Jeremiah.
Warning: The prophet was called upon to pay a heavy price in his ministry as the Lord’s spokesman to a rebellious people. This caused isolation from his family and countrymen who cursed him. Jeremiah was a lonely prophet. He lived an isolated life. He was excluded from various social activities.
Promise: The one thing that kept Jeremiah going was the promise from God that the exiles would return. Jeremiah looked beyond the enveloping gloom of the coming captivity and sees a great miracle. God will bring a repentant and renewed people out of Babylonian bondage back to the land of their fathers.
Chapter17
Chapter 17 has been referred to as a “miscellaneous file” because it contains some many miscellaneous prophecies of Jeremiah. The chapter begins with the nature of Judah’s sin that was so deeply ingrained (17:1-4). A pen of iron and a point of a diamond are used to emphasize this ingrained quality. The prophet declares that the sin of Judah was so indelibly inscribed upon the tablet of their heart that ordinary means will not suffice to remove it. The reader will see the extent of Judah's sin described again in Jeremiah 31:33-34. Then, Jeremiah moves on to a series of unrelated prophecies. They are all true, but the seem to be out of place in this chapter.
A psalm of contrast, 17:5-8.
Jeremiah contrasts the character of a man who trusts in man with one who trusts in the Lord just like in Psalm 1. The contrast is carried out by likening each to a particular kind of tree. The man who trusts in flesh (man) and turns away from God is like a desert shrub. It dwells for a time in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land, obviously produces little or no fruit, and soon dries up (Jeremiah 17:5-8).
Reminder of Psalm 1: The man who trusts in God is like a tree planted by water(s). It flourishes, does not fear when heat comes, has green foliage, and bears fruit continually. The Lord says, cursed is the former (man), but blessed is the latter.
Jeremiah talks about heart disease in Chapter 17:9-10. He declares the heart (the source of action, will reason) of man is deceitful (treacherous) and desperately corrupt (diseased, incurably ill).
Jeremiah skips to talking about proverbs and partridges in Chapter 17:11. Based upon a popular belief that the partridge takes over and hatches the eggs of other birds, Jeremiah proclaims the truth that riches dishonestly acquired will soon vanish. As the birds hatched by their foster mother soon abandon her, so the man who gathers his wealth unjustly will find that it soon leaves him, and at his end he will be a fool with a lack of moral understanding.
Jeremiah explains what the sanctuary is in Chapter 17:12-13. He gives the proper meaning to the word sanctuary calling it far more than a place of worship. A sanctuary should be a place of refuge, safety, and security. The sanctuary should be looked at as God’s glorious throne. It is a symbol of His sovereign authority over all. Jeremiah declares God's sanctuary to be man’s refuge and security where people are not threatned and mistreated.
A prayer of petition is presented in Jeremiah 17:14-18. These verses are the prophet's confessiona and another individual lament. The verses start with a petition and an expression of praise. Then, the verses contain a statement of Jeremiah's particular trial of being ridiculed by his hearers. It concludes with a prayer for personal deliverance and for judgment on his enemies. (This is the third of the prophet’s four “confessions.” The others are in 11:18-12:6 and 15:10-21).
The sanctity of the Sabbath in 17:19-27 seem to be unrelated to the remaining material of chapter 17. After reading Chapters 18 and 19, the verses seen to fit after all. The verses introduce three symbolical acts taking place in different parts of the city of Jerusalem.
Chapter 18
Chapter 18, 19, and 20 contain parables, proclamation, and persecution. These three chapters are closely related. In Chapter 18, Jeremiah uses the figure of clay in the potter’s hand to depict not only the sovereignty but also the patience, grace, and love of God. In Chapter 19, the potter’s broken bottle is indicative of the coming destruction of Judah. In Chapter 20, the records the subsequent suffering of the prophet and his pathetic complaint are indicated.
The parable of the potter (18:1-12). The sight of the potter molding and reshaping his vessels of clay impressed Jeremiah’s mind with the truth that the “divine potter” is absolutely sovereign over all the nations of the earth and that he can deal with each according to his sovereign will.
As he watches further the prophet is impressed that God, like the potter before him, is purposeful, patient, and persistent in his dealings with Judah. God will do to his people what the potter does with a piece of pottery whose pattern has been marred in the making. The exile will not be the end. Captivity will not mean doom but discipline. And through this discipline God will fashion another vessel fit for carrying forward his purpose for all mankind.
Snow on Mount Hermon The unnaturalness of Judah’s sin (18:18-17). The consistency of snow on the craigs of Sirion (Mount Hermon) and cold flowing streams from the mountains is contrasted with the inconsistency of Israel in walking the ancient roads.
A plot and a protest (18:18-28). The religious leaders, priests, prophets and sages treated Jeremiah as an intruder into a field that rightfully belonged to them. So they plotted to disregard his words and to smite him with the tongue (v. 18), by premeditated libel they would undermine his influence.
Chapter 18:19-23 records the harshest of Jeremiah’s “confessions.” Knowing that the leaders are determined to kill him, the prophet confessed his fears. First, he pleads that he has desired only good for those plotting against him (vv. 19-20). Next he prays that God will utterly destroy those opposing him (vv. 21-23). From the Christian point of view, Jeremiah's attitude toward his enemies goes against the later teachings of Christ in Matthew 5:44, 6:12; Luke 23:34.
Chapter 19
The parable of the broken flask (19:1-15)
The clay in the hand of the potter can be molded, marred and reshaped as was indicated in Chapter 18, but the vessels which the potter has finished cannot be repaired if broken. It is good for nothing and will be cast aside. This is the parable the prophet is commanded to enact in order to stamp upon the mind of his rebellious and impenitent people the coming destruction of both Jerusalem and Judah.
Accompanied by some of the leaders of the city including priests, the prophet descends to the valley of the son of Hinnom. There he charges them with their apostasy and predicts that Jerusalem will suffer slaughter, hunger, and untold horrors at the hands of her enemies (19: 4-9).
In his hands the prophet holds a potter’s vessel of hardened clay. In the presence of witnesses he dashes it to pieces as he boldly proclaims: Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people . . . as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended (v. 11). Jeremiah then departs from the valley of Hinnom for the temple area where in the courts of the Lord’s house he again preaches essentially the same sermon (vv. 14-15). From the events which follow, it is clear that some got the point, including a Pashur the priest.
Chapter 20
Persecution and protest (20:1-18)
Persecution, 20: 1-6. Pashur, the chief of the temple police, seized the prophet, beat him, and placed him in the stocks. During the day Jeremiah was exposed to public view and to the humiliating taunts and insults of spectators. He also experienced excruciating physical pain from sitting all night in a cramped position. These verses provide a context altogether fitting as the background for the prophet’s fifth and final “confession” which follows.
Protest, 20:7-18. One expositor calls this poem “One of the most powerful and impressive passages in . . . the prophetic literature . . . which takes us not only into the depths of the prophet’s soul, but into the secrets of the prophetic consciousness.” The poem is composed of two parts: vv. 7-13 and 14-18. In vv. 7-13 the prophet attains the lofty peak of praise for victory won. In vv. 14-18 he descends to the deepest depths of despair experienced in any previous confession.
Chapter 21
Later Prophecies of Jeremiah (21:1-25:38)
For about 20 years duriing the reign of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah denounced and warned the people of Judah; now during the reign of Zedekiah, his rebukes are directed primarily to the guilt of the kings, princes, and false prophets of the nation.
Zedekiah’s request and Jeremiah’s reply (21:1-10)
Zedekiah, weak-willed and vacillating, came to the throne of Judah while the people of Judah were in exile under Babylonian monarch, Nebuchadnezzar. Throughout his reign Zedekiah was pressured by members of the nationalistic party to revolt against Babylonian. Eventually Zedekiah revolted against Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar soon eliminated Judah's fortified cities and Jerusalem was under siege. Zedekiah, distraught by the enemy’s advance, sends a delegation to seek advice from Jeremiah. Jeremiah gives only one possible means of escape: submission to the enemy.
Chapter 22
Messages to individual kings of Judah (22:10-30)
These verses contain oracles against three of the five kings who ruled Judah during Jeremiah’s ministry. The first and last of the three, namely Shallum (personal name) or Jehoahaz (throne name) and Coniah ruled only three months each and received attention from the prophet. The third king of this group, Jehoiakim, was the most wicked and ruthless of the three, and Jeremiah’s harshest charges are hurled at him.
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