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Jeremiah 19-21
Jeremiah 19
Jeremiah does some more performance art. This time he compares the destruction, to that of a bottle.
Jeremiah lays out the list of grievances from the LORD.
4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
Then Jeremiah does his performance.
10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
Israel-dumpty sat on a wall; Israel-dumpty had a great fall; no-one could put Israel-dumpty back together again.
15 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.
Apparently a stiff neck can contribute to hearing loss.
Jeremiah 20
This chapter is a two-parter. The first part is of Jeremiah being put into the stocks. The second is Jeremiah complaining of being the chosen.
2 Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
Pashur didn't like being told that the temple was defiled. Pashur was the son of Immer. Now, why did Pashur the son of Immer have more authority than the son of Hilkiah, we aren't told.
3 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
Magormissabib means "terror on every side".
4 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
It seems that the people in Judah and Israel got named very descriptively, possibly more than the Injuns. Dances with wolves has nothing on a name like terror on every side.
6 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
Not only will Pashur be screwed royally, all his family and friends will be taken away too.
Now for part 2 of chapter 20.
7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
That was a very abrupt change from the story of Pashur, to Jeremiah complaining about his lot in life. Jeremiah didn't like being singled out by everyone else for actually telling the truth of what was coming. He was continually mocked, thrown in the stocks, beaten... All because he was doing the LORD's work.
9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
He went so far as to try to quit. But God wouldn't let him. God made him hurt until he spoke the words that God put in his mouth.
11 But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
He may have some temporary pain, but those who currently torment him will have it forever.
14 Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Jeremiah is as emo as David. Saying I wish I was never born.
15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
In fact, not only did he not want to be born, but he curses the man who gave his dad the itsaboy cigar.
17 Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
Jeremiah prayed that he could have been aborted.
Jeremiah 21
1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
This is a different Pashur. According to the timeline, Zedekiah was the last of the Judah kings. He became king in 597. The destruction comes in 586, so this was sometime around 588.
2 Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
Holy crap on a stick, did Zedekiah just ask Jeremiah to have the LORD fight for Judah against Babylon. Apparently, nobody has paid any attention to Jeremiah's stage show. Jeremiah replies to the request:
4 Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
They were probably like, YAY, God will fight, we won't need our weapons.
5 And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
Oh crap, that's bad.
7 And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
Not only is God going to hurt the people in the town for a while, he's going to then turn them over. Stay in the city and die, run out and get captured.
10 For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
Instead of the word "evil" lets see what some other "bibles" say:
NIV: harm
NASB: harm
The message: um... angry? "I'm that angry with this place!"
Amplified: evil
NLT: disaster
ESV: harm
CEV: is just amazing and has changed the meaning completely of the entire verse, "I have decided not to rescue Jerusalem. Instead, I am going to let the king of Babylonia burn it to the ground. I, the LORD, have spoken."
NKJV: adversity
NCV: trouble
21st KJV: evil
You see how God is sugar coated in the newest translations. God isn't just angry enough to do evil, in the contemporary english version, he's just going to "not rescue" them. Instead of kicking their asses.
14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
God's time for ass kicking has just about arrived. We are at the final king of Judah. The last northern king was Hoshea, he ended in 722, it's now 140+ years and 9 Judah kings later. The people have learned nothing in that time.
So what have WE learned today?
1. If God wants you to talk for him, you are going to talk.
2. God can do evil, he made it, why couldn't he do it. If God is kicking your ass, it's sure going to seem like evil.
3. Zedekiah has some huge balls to go ask God to save him.
YIC
V
Jeremiah 19
Jeremiah does some more performance art. This time he compares the destruction, to that of a bottle.
Jeremiah lays out the list of grievances from the LORD.
4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
Then Jeremiah does his performance.
10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
Israel-dumpty sat on a wall; Israel-dumpty had a great fall; no-one could put Israel-dumpty back together again.
15 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.
Apparently a stiff neck can contribute to hearing loss.
Jeremiah 20
This chapter is a two-parter. The first part is of Jeremiah being put into the stocks. The second is Jeremiah complaining of being the chosen.
2 Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
Pashur didn't like being told that the temple was defiled. Pashur was the son of Immer. Now, why did Pashur the son of Immer have more authority than the son of Hilkiah, we aren't told.
3 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
Magormissabib means "terror on every side".
4 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
It seems that the people in Judah and Israel got named very descriptively, possibly more than the Injuns. Dances with wolves has nothing on a name like terror on every side.
6 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
Not only will Pashur be screwed royally, all his family and friends will be taken away too.
Now for part 2 of chapter 20.
7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
That was a very abrupt change from the story of Pashur, to Jeremiah complaining about his lot in life. Jeremiah didn't like being singled out by everyone else for actually telling the truth of what was coming. He was continually mocked, thrown in the stocks, beaten... All because he was doing the LORD's work.
9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
He went so far as to try to quit. But God wouldn't let him. God made him hurt until he spoke the words that God put in his mouth.
11 But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
He may have some temporary pain, but those who currently torment him will have it forever.
14 Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Jeremiah is as emo as David. Saying I wish I was never born.
15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
In fact, not only did he not want to be born, but he curses the man who gave his dad the itsaboy cigar.
17 Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
Jeremiah prayed that he could have been aborted.
Jeremiah 21
1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
This is a different Pashur. According to the timeline, Zedekiah was the last of the Judah kings. He became king in 597. The destruction comes in 586, so this was sometime around 588.
2 Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
Holy crap on a stick, did Zedekiah just ask Jeremiah to have the LORD fight for Judah against Babylon. Apparently, nobody has paid any attention to Jeremiah's stage show. Jeremiah replies to the request:
4 Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
They were probably like, YAY, God will fight, we won't need our weapons.
5 And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
Oh crap, that's bad.
7 And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
Not only is God going to hurt the people in the town for a while, he's going to then turn them over. Stay in the city and die, run out and get captured.
10 For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
Instead of the word "evil" lets see what some other "bibles" say:
NIV: harm
NASB: harm
The message: um... angry? "I'm that angry with this place!"
Amplified: evil
NLT: disaster
ESV: harm
CEV: is just amazing and has changed the meaning completely of the entire verse, "I have decided not to rescue Jerusalem. Instead, I am going to let the king of Babylonia burn it to the ground. I, the LORD, have spoken."
NKJV: adversity
NCV: trouble
21st KJV: evil
You see how God is sugar coated in the newest translations. God isn't just angry enough to do evil, in the contemporary english version, he's just going to "not rescue" them. Instead of kicking their asses.
14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
God's time for ass kicking has just about arrived. We are at the final king of Judah. The last northern king was Hoshea, he ended in 722, it's now 140+ years and 9 Judah kings later. The people have learned nothing in that time.
So what have WE learned today?
1. If God wants you to talk for him, you are going to talk.
2. God can do evil, he made it, why couldn't he do it. If God is kicking your ass, it's sure going to seem like evil.
3. Zedekiah has some huge balls to go ask God to save him.
YIC
V
Praise Jesus ye the Lord.
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