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Most people can recite Jeremiah 29:11, but what does the rest of the book of Jeremiah have to offer us today? Why was Jeremiah called The Weeping Prophet? Well, you are going to find out on this week’s episode. Jeremiah has lots of reasons to weep during his days of warning the Israelites of the coming judgement of God for worshipping false gods. He has the hardest job in the world, preaching to those who hated him, abused him, tried to kill him, isolated him, and ignored his warnings. Jeremiah loves his people and faithfully answers God’s call, yet he had his own personal struggles and mental health challenges. You will see this mighty prophet in a different light while you gain a brief overview of the book of Jeremiah. Join us!
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Jeremiah
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast. Brought to you by DSW Ministries. Your host is singer songwriter, speaker and domestic violence advocate, Diana Winkler. She is passionate about helping survivors in the church heal from domestic violence and abuse and trauma. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counseling or qualified medical help. [00:00:26] Now here is Diana. [00:00:33] Welcome to the Wounds of the Faithful podcast, and welcome to the new subscribers from YouTube. Let’s see, I’ve got Suzanne that has subscribed on my YouTube channel, and Jonathan Clemons has subscribed, thank you. [00:00:54] And Jonathan has been interacting with my Facebook and social media [00:01:00] posts. So thank you, Jonathan. I appreciate that. Somebody’s actually seeing my posts. I just never know. Speaking of posts, you’ve probably seen the big fiasco with the Dalai Lama. I don’t even know what to say to that. [00:01:17] This whole, you wanna suck my tongue. Saying that to a child is unacceptable. [00:01:23] And I, I think a lot of you agree with that. He should never have said that to a child. [00:01:29] Not surprised, but still appalled anyway. And we need to teach our children the good touch and the bad touch and what’s appropriate interaction between adults and children. Another thing that really irked me this week that I’m bringing up is I saw a few people posting this meme. ” The only sex education my third grader should know is that they have cooties and they’ll [00:02:00] have cooties until they’re married.” [00:02:02] Now, some people take that as a joke. I don’t, because I am an abuse advocate. I know that in this day and age, our culture is saturated with sex. A third grader knows a whole lot more than I did as a third grader in the seventies. I actually had a pretty strict upbringing, a Catholic upbringing, and I knew what sex was in the fourth grade, thanks to a a neighborhood friend who blatantly told me. [00:02:37] And yes, there should be age appropriate information given to your children. We don’t need to be graphic or giving them too much information, but I have known a lot of children, myself included, who were fondled by friends, family, and strangers. They did not have the [00:03:00] language to express what happened to them. [00:03:03] They have no idea what the abuser did to them. They don’t know that they didn’t do anything wrong. They don’t know that this is not normal. They don’t know the names of their body parts to communicate, this man put his fingers here, or this man did this to my penis or vagina. A lot of these kids, they have not even the basics of those things. [00:03:31] Again, it doesn’t need to be graphic, but a third grader should know basic body parts. They’re not dirty. Those are body parts, just like an arm or a leg, just like a foot or a hand. And if you don’t make it weird or gross or freak out when they’re paying attention to their private parts, then it’s gonna be normal and natural. [00:03:56] And you teach them from a very early age. [00:04:00] This is good touch. This is not good. Nobody should be touching you in these areas that cover a swimsuit, unless you give them permission to. Or you’re with your mom and dad at the doctor and your parents tell you it’s okay, the doctor’s gonna examine you because you’re sick or whatever. [00:04:21] But to put your head in the sand as a parent and not teach them anything about sex, the world is already teaching them about sex. If they’re exposed to the computer, if they’re watching tv in any sense, if they’re going to their friend’s house, I guarantee you they are already learning about sex. [00:04:42] My parents didn’t hide that stuff from me. My parents sent me to sex ed in the public school, which was pretty tame. And then, they gave me books to read. They answered my questions. They made it, this is a holy thing. Sex is holy, your body is [00:05:00] beautiful. And we’ve talked about this on the show. [00:05:02] But I know that coming from a fundamental Baptist College and going to fundamentalist churches in my adult life, they wait until the daughter or the son is engaged and they’re getting married and they say, oh, you’re don’t need to know about sex until right before you’re married. [00:05:24] There are girls that they start bleeding and they have no idea. They went through a period that this is what that is. Sheltering your kids, making them ignorant about basic bodily functions is not going to help them. [00:05:42] It opens them up for abuse because they’re not taught boundaries. They’re not taught, you have a right to say no. They’re not taught, this is not appropriate behavior. So yeah, I’m going on a rant here, but it really made me bent outta shape. And if you see those kind of posts, [00:06:00] say something because ignorance for your child in this day and age is not going to help them. [00:06:07] Anyway, that’s what I’m gonna say about that. It’s very appropriate for this podcast. [00:06:16] This week I’ve decided to go through a book of Jeremiah, learn more about him. Jeremiah is a major prophet and he is somebody that we can relate to as abuse survivors because he went through a lot of horrible things. [00:06:36] And I’m gonna see, how he responds, how he is a prophet called, by God, how did he react to these things? I am not going to go through 52 chapters. I am encouraging you when we finish the podcast to not be afraid to jump into Jeremiah and read it. Pick a [00:07:00] translation that you find that is readable and I’m just gonna go over some basics here and maybe it will encourage you to dig a little deeper into Jeremiah, learn more about him and about God. [00:07:14] Cuz a lot of it’s repetitive. I’m gonna go through a summary here just so you know, the basic framework and then I’m gonna go through some specific verses. I’m just gonna pick out, I’ve been reading in my Bible that I really want you to see because it really tells you what Jeremiah was like. [00:07:34] He was a real person. He had struggles, he had doubts, he was afraid, he didn’t understand what God wanted him to do or why God was doing these things. But a lot of it is very repetitive. So like Jeremiah’s a lot about God’s judgment on the different pagan cities. [00:07:57] And Jeremiah warns them about, [00:08:00] you need to turn away from your pagan idols and you need to repent. And then, God will stop the judgment on your country and especially Judah and Israel. And they don’t repent. They don’t turn away. They keep doing it. And so they suffer this judgment of God in that God allows countries like Babylon, the Chaldeans to come in and take them into slavery to destroy their temple. [00:08:33] And so it’s just a repeat all through Jeremiah, he keeps warning them and people don’t listen to him. In fact, they hate him. They do horrible things to him. And, people think that God of the Old Testament is not loving and that isn’t true, that he’s only the God of fire in brimstone. That isn’t true. [00:08:54] If you read through the scriptures and you really look for the grace [00:09:00] and mercy of God, God is very patient and he’s always inviting people. Please come back to me. I love you. Please come back, turn from your sin, turn from your idols, and come back into the fold. So let’s do this. [00:09:16] Who is Jeremiah? [00:09:17] Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. You may have heard that before. Why was he called the weeping prophet? Because he was so tenderhearted toward his people. Judah and [00:09:32] Israel. So he was one of the major prophets of the Bible. And according to tradition, Jeremiah also authored the Book of Kings. So when Kings was originally written, they were not two separate books, First Kings and Second Kings. They were all one book. And then Lamentations he wrote also. [00:09:55] He had a disciple, which was his scribe, named [00:10:00] Baruch. And so we’re gonna meet him. And so those two are partners. But So when was Jeremiah a prophet? Back in the days of King Josiah, the king of Judah in Josiah’s 13th year, that was 626 BC before Christ, until after the fall of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the temple in 587 BC. [00:10:29] So during that time, they were five different kings. You will read those in the book of Jeremiah. So five Kings of Judah, Josiah, Jehoaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. Ooh, those names and spelling those names. So Jeremiah did have some contemporaries. Now the prophetess, Huilda was a relative [00:11:00] and a contemporary of Jeremiah. [00:11:02] And then also Zephaniah, there’s a book of Zephaniah. The prophet, was Jeremiah’s mentor. So what kinda family did Jeremiah come from? So he was the son of Hilkiah [00:11:18] who was a priest from the land of Benjamin. Benjamin is one of the 12 tribes, and they were from the village of Anthoth in to which that village was full of Levites. So that’s their land. [00:11:35] So basically Jeremiah’s called by God to prophecy, to proclaim Jerusalem’s coming destruction by invaders from the north. That’s basically Babylon. And this was because Israel had forsaken God by worshiping the idols of Baal in burning their children as offerings to Baal. [00:11:56] So the nation deviated so far [00:12:00] from God’s laws that they had broken the covenant, causing God to withdraw his blessings. And so Jeremiah would tell people, a Jew is gonna suffer famine, foreign conquest, captivity, and they’re not gonna listen. [00:12:18] So if you know the 10 Commandments, one of the top sins against God is idolatry. God doesn’t tolerate idolatry, as you will see here. That is Judah and Israel’s primary sin is idolatry. Now you’re asking, what does that mean, Judah and Israel? Now the country was divided into two kingdoms based on some wars and skirmishes and fights. And so they divided into two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom, Judah and the Southern Kingdom, Israel. And so when I say Judah or [00:13:00] Israel, that’s what that means. They are in the Promised Land. They’re just decided to divide themselves into two parts, and both of ’em are just as sinful as the other. [00:13:09] Okay, so moving on here. [00:13:11] So you might have heard of Josiah. He was one of the good kings. [00:13:18] So about five years before Josiah, king of Judah turned the nation towards repentance from idolatry. According to the Book of Kings, Josiah’s reforms were insufficient to save Judah and Jerusalem from destruction. [00:13:35] Yet Josiah’s grandfather led Judah back into their lustful lifestyle in returning to idolatry after Josiah died. Josiah really tried to help the Israelites to do what’s right in the sight of the Lord, but the king after just came in and d So let’s talk about [00:14:00] the calling of Jeremiah. [00:14:02] Now, Jeremiah did resist the call by complaining that he was only a child. So [00:14:09] we all know the verse here, Jeremiah chapter one. I before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Then I. Oh Lord God. Behold, I do not know how to speak for I am only a youth. But the Lord said to me, do not say, I’m only a youth, or to all to whom I send you. [00:14:41] You shall go in whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them. For I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord. Now that is Jeremiah’s calling. And yes, he did try and resist the call by [00:15:00] making excuses that he was only a child. Um, That pretty much means that he was not head of a home. [00:15:09] He was unmarried. And most scholars say he was about 16 or 17. But the Lord placed the words in Jeremiah’s mouth and Jeremiah realized he had to obey. So Jeremiah chapter 20, verse nine, he says, his word is in my heart, a fire shut up in my bones. [00:15:32] And Jeremiah is actually a well trained, literate person. He was probably trained at the scribe school in Jerusalem. That’s what Jewish sources claim. He was, preaching against idolatry, the greed of priests and false prophets. Many years later God instructed Jeremiah to write these down on scrolls. [00:15:59] [00:16:00] That’s what his scribe Baruch was for. He would write things down for him on the scrolls. [00:16:06] So Jeremiah goes through a lot of persecution and you wonder why would Jeremiah do this job? [00:16:14] To preach and warn to people that didn’t wanna be preached to, who were not going to listen, who were not gonna repent. Jeremiah cared about his people. It’s pretty devastating to hear from the Lord that they’re gonna be carried away by the ungodly and pa countries, they’re gonna be put into slavery. [00:16:33] They’re the women, the men and the children. Their country is going to be destroyed and pillaged. That’s probably what his motive was to keep going. [00:16:44] So people have conspired to kill him, but the Lord always told Jeremiah that he would protect his life and declared disaster for those that persecuted him. And that references in Jeremiah 11:18.[00:17:00] [00:17:00] But Jeremiah does not suffer in silence. He is very vocal. And Jeremiah complains to Lord about his persecution. And he did not want to hear this, but the Lord told him, things are going to get worse. The attacks are going to get worse. In fact, a corrupt priest named h a temple official in Jerusalem. [00:17:26] He had Jeremiah beaten and put in the stocks at the upper gate in Benjamin, and he was in the stocks overnight, no food or water. And after this, Jeremiah l that he was mocked because he was speaking God’s word, Jeremiah 27. [00:17:46] But if he tries to shut down God’s word in his heart, it’s just gonna burn in his heart and he will not be able to hold those words in his heart. Isn’t that true of us? When the Lord’s given us something that we [00:18:00] are called to do, we’re pretty relentless in doing that until it’s completed. [00:18:06] So then there were these prophets, false prophets that were claiming, Hey, there’s just gonna be a couple years of suffering and then there’s gonna be peace. Nope. [00:18:17] So one of these saying, oh, within two years the Lord’s gonna break the yoke of the king of Babylon, and then everything’s gonna be great. But Jeremiah is saying, no. That’s not what’s going to happen. You’re gonna trade the yoke of wood to, for a yoke of iron. [00:18:40] And it’s in Jeremiah 28 13. [00:18:42] You are a false prophet and you shouldn’t say these things to these people because they are wrong. Fact. The children of Israel are going to be in bondage for 70 years now that’s to Babylon. And where we heard that before, [00:19:00] we have heard that when we studied Daniel, he was taken away from his homeland and taken to Babylon. [00:19:08] And so was Esther’s family was taken from the Holy land and taken into Babylon and then Persia defeats Babylon later. [00:19:20] So after Jeremiah like tells the leadership that Babylon’s gonna come and take over the kings officials, including Trying to convince King Zedekiah that Jeremiah should be put to death for discouraging the people. Hey, you’re being a real killjoy Jeremiah. Zedekiah allowed them to do whatever they wanted and they cast Jeremiah into a cistern where you sank down into the mud. [00:19:52] What is a cistern? We talked about it on previous episodes. It’s probably a mile deep [00:20:00] hole in the ground, and that’s usually connected at the bottom where you can reach the springs to draw water. When we were in Israel we walked down the steps to the bottom of many cisterns in Israel, and then we had to walk back up those stairs. [00:20:17] Can you imagine carrying jugs of water up those stairs? And it was probably 200 steps and I was sucking wind for sure. But anyway, sometimes they would put people in the cistern back in the day as punishment. Some of the cisterns did not have these nice steps in them. You only could get to them by a rope. [00:20:41] So this particular cistern, there wasn’t any water in it, but there was a lot of mud and he sank into the mud. I’ve read the commentaries state that he was sunk up to his chest in mud because it was the soft [00:21:00] mud. So he could have drowned, suffocated in the mud if it kept going down, or they probably put him down there to star And there was this grand fellow named Abe who was an Ethiopian eunuch. He was one of the people that rescued Jeremiah by pulling him out of the cistern. And it took many men and they had him put clothes under his armpits and then put the rope tied around his armpits. In order to get him out of the cistern, him out of the mud, Jeremiah remained in prison until Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 5 So that references in Jeremiah 38, 7 through 13. [00:21:53] But the funny thing is the Babylonians released Jeremiah and showered him with [00:22:00] all kinds of gifts and kindness, and they gave him a place to stay. That was pretty nice. And [00:22:08] he went to live near [00:22:10] Gedeliah, who was the governor of Judea. So went to stay in Mitz Paw, and that’s referenced in Jeremiah 40 So Gedeliah was assassinated by the Prince of Am because supposedly he was working with the Babylonians. Johanan succeeded as the governor of Judea and he fled to Egypt and took Jeremiah and Baruch with him and some of the king’s daughters. [00:22:44] Now that’s in Jeremiah 43, 1 through 13. So it is told that Jeremiah probably stayed the rest of his life in Egypt in vain trying to get the people to repent and turn [00:23:00] from their wicked ways. There is no actual verifiable record of his death. They do think he died in Egypt. [00:23:09] Compared to all the other crazy things that happened to him, which we’re gonna go over, that doesn’t seem too out of line. Not a very happy ending for Jeremiah. But he was very important in the Bible. His testimony is the gospel of Matthew talks about that [00:23:31] Jeremiah’s prophecies point to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And there’s 40 quotations of the book of Jeremiah in the New Testament. Like in Revelation 18. They’re talking about the destruction of Babylon. Hebrews talks about the prophetic expectation of a new covenant instead of the old covenant. [00:23:59] [00:24:00] And you wanna know what the messianic prophecies are in Jeremiah. You definitely can Google that. There are many of them in there. you probably know the ones in Isaiah. So that’s just a basic overview. I’ve skipped a lot of stuff, But I’m gonna point out some things that he’s gone through. What was his emotional life like? How did he deal with being persecuted, abused, and being the brunt of everybody hating him? I’m just gonna read some verses here. Jeremiah grieves for his people. And there are so many things in here that I’ve highlighted that I want to mention, but I think that [00:24:46] it would just make the episode too long. [00:24:49] One thing I wanna say about Jeremiah is you’re gonna see the word whore a lot, whoring after other gods. I wanna [00:25:00] explain what that means. It doesn’t quite mean the same as in our current culture here. Back in biblical times, and even some countries today still do this, but they had in these other countries that God would, forbid the Israelites to visit were not allowed to befriend the other countries because they had these pagan temples and they would have pagan prostitutes. [00:25:33] They would have sex in the temple for fertility rites or, because of the lust of men. So they would have females and they would also have male prostitutes. This was all very common in Rome that was very normal in the culture to have temple sex. So they are worshiping another God, a false God. And we just stated that is one [00:26:00] of the top sins that you don’t commit against the Lord is worshiping false gods other gods. And so the Bible uses colorful language, allegorical language. They refer to Jerusalem as female. Jerusalem is referred to as a she. [00:26:21] That’s just for the, that’s just the poetic language of the Bible. So don’t get upset when you see, keep talking about her. They’re not talking about an actual woman that’s a a prostitute. They’re talking about Jerusalem in general going after these other gods. And when you are worshiping other gods, God says you are whoring after other gods. [00:26:50] He’s using a word picture to make a parallel point with, you are cheating on me with other gods. [00:26:58] So you see the word [00:27:00] whoring after other gods. That’s what that means. That’s just a word picture. It’s poetic language. And I find it interesting in chapter three, verse eight, [00:27:13] she saw that for all the adulteries of the faithless one Israel, that I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land committing adultery with stone and tree. So they were worshiping, gods of stone and gods of the trees. [00:27:41] For all of her treacherous sister, Judah did not return to me. With her whole heart. [00:27:46] Faithless israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Return faithless Israel. For I am merciful. I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt that you have rebelled against the Lord [00:28:00] your God. Yeah. People don’t realize that God divorced Israel ,mentions more than one place in the Bible, but God is going to take Israel back because of his love and mercy. [00:28:13] But Israel needs to repent. So when you hear people talk about divorce is a sin. Not necessarily because God divorced Israel, and there’s a lot of context to that. So people get bent outta shape when they say, when I say God divorced Israel. It’s a relationship. The Jews were committing adultery by cheating on God with other countries that served pagan gods. [00:28:44] So it’s very important to understand in this book you’ll see it a whole bunch. So much I wanna say here, but [00:28:52] there’s also a lot of language about the shepherds. The shepherds abusing the flock [00:29:00] and the flock scattering and that you need to take care of my flock. But you haven’t. And the shepherds are language for the leaders of Israel that are supposed to be in charge and they don’t take care of the flock. Oh yeah. Here’s a verse he’s talking about Israel’s sons. Israel sons have perverted their way. They’ve forgotten the Lord their God, return O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness. Truly, the hills are a delusion. The orgies on the mountains [00:29:34] truly in the Lord are God is the salvation of Israel. So they were worshiping on the tops of these mountains, having orgies worshiping the trees and the stone. So this is the kind of, [00:29:49] this is the kind of stuff God is angry about. [00:29:52] They will not repent. [00:29:54] They swear falsely they fell, felt no anguish. They refused to take correction. They have made their [00:30:00] faces harder than rock. They have no sense. So that’s chapter five. Very descriptive imagery here in Jeremiah. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores. They were well fed, lusty stallions each name for his neighbor’s wife. Shal I not , punish them for these things? So they’re talking about going to the temple. [00:30:28] Anyway, I’m gonna go into chapter eight. And again, it repeats quite a bit. [00:30:34] God is telling them, you are cheating on me, and please come back. Please repent. [00:30:41] So Jeremiah’s grieving for his people in chapter eight, verse 18. My joy is gone. Grief is upon me. My heart is sick within me. A mourn in dismay has taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no [00:31:00] physician there? And he keeps going in chapter nine, verse one. Oh, that my head wear waters and my eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for this slain of the daughter of my people. [00:31:16] So that’s why he’s called, the weeping prophet. In verse 10, he says, I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness. [00:31:28] So he also says in, [00:31:30] he’s talking that everybody’s a liar and he can’t trust anybody. You ever been in a situation like that, that you don’t have anybody on your side? And let’s, Jeremiah didn’t have any friends? Not that I could tell, except maybe Baruch. So like chapter nine verse four, let everyone be aware of his neighbor and put no trust in any brother where every brother is a deceiver. [00:31:55] And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. [00:32:00] Everyone deceives his neighbor and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They worry themselves committing inequity, keeping oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit. They refuse to know me, declares the Lord. [00:32:18] Oh, not even his family he can trust. Nobody’s on his side. People are liars. And I’m looking down at my Bible because I have everything highlighted in here. So it’s easier than using a, an internet app to read the scriptures here. [00:32:35] So Jeremiah doesn’t pull any punches when he is talking to the Lord. He is questioning why do the wicked prosper? And we all say that. How come I’m living a righteous life and I got all these problems? You see Joe Schmoe over there and he’s got nice car and a nice house and a successful job, and he’s [00:33:00] doing all these wicked things, but God isn’t punishing him. [00:33:04] We have all seen that. And even Jeremiah is doing this too, talking with the Lord. So we’re in chapter 12, He starts out his complaint with, Righteous are you, Lord, when I complain to you. Gotta do some praise first before complaining. Yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? [00:33:27] Why do all the treacherous thrive? But you owe Lord know me, you see me and test my heart towards you? And this is what he says. Jeremiah says this, pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and set them apart for the day of slaughter. He’s asking for the Lord to heap revenge on them, to destroy them. [00:33:47] So God’s answering Jeremiah. [00:33:49] In verse six, or even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you. They’re in full cry after you, [00:34:00] do not believe them, though. They speak friendly words to you. So God’s telling ’em don’t trust them. You’re right not to trust people because they turn their heart from the Lord. [00:34:12] God is also warning him about false prophets In chapter 14, verse 14, the Lord said to me, the prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. Here prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds, [00:34:35] I did not send them. And who says the sword and famine shall not come upon this land? Those prophets shall be consumed, [00:34:45] or I will pour out their evil upon them. So basically he’s saying whoever’s lying about these prophecies is gonna pay for that. [00:34:55] So here’s Jeremiah asking for more vengeance. And [00:35:00] maybe you have said some of these things. [00:35:02] We’re in chapter 15 and in verse 10. It is me, my mother, that you bore me a man of strife and contention to the whole land. I have not lent, nor have I borrowed yet. All of them cursed me. The Lord said, have I not set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble? And in the time of distress? [00:35:32] In verse 15, he says, oh Lord, remember me and visit me and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Verse 16, your words were found and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart. For I am called by your name, oh Lord God, Why is my pain unceasing? My wound incurable, refusing to be heal So he’s [00:36:00] saying that, the word of the Lord is the light of his heart cuz he’s a righteous man, but he’s still in a lot of pain and suffering. And God tells him [00:36:12] that I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you. For I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord, I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless. So this is a promise. [00:36:36] So this is sad, but I guess it’s less painful if he does not get married. Talks about in chapter 16 verse one through nine, God forbids Jeremiah for a marrying or having sons or daughters. So he would not have to watch his family die of deadly diseases [00:37:00] when the judgment comes. Yet also doesn’t allow him to eat or drink with those who are bereaved further isolating himself from normal cultural interaction. [00:37:12] That’s pretty hard. Okay? And I don’t want you to get married and have children. His job was to his people and warn them of the coming judgment. And he did not want him to have a family to worry about. They would probably be taken into slavery also, or killed. And we’ve talked about this in the Bible study with my lady friends, that when you ate with somebody [00:37:40] that was a very intimate thing. And to eat with somebody, you only eat with people you agreed with or people that were your friends or family. And he was told to isolate himself most likely because he was the preacher and preaching a [00:38:00] very unsavory kind of message that would’ve opened him up for more persecution, eating with people that hated him. [00:38:09] So he is eating alone. That must have been really hard. He has no friends. [00:38:15] So [00:38:15] the Lord is talking about in chapter 16, verse 20, can a man make for himself Gods such or not Gods? You can’t make a God from stone or bronze or wood. There’s nothing alive in them. They’re not God. [00:38:34] Behold, I will make them know this once. I will make them know my power and my might, so they shall know that my name is the Lord. So he is not a fake God. [00:38:46] Looking at [00:38:47] Jeremiah’s, praying for deliverance. So chapter 17, verse 14, he says, heal me oh Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me and I shall be saved. For you [00:39:00] are my praise. [00:39:01] In verse 18. He goes, let those be put to shame who persecute me. But let me not be put to shame. Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring upon them the day of disaster. Destroy them with double destruction. There he goes again. He’s doing some praise there in the beginning. And then he asked for revenge of his enemies. [00:39:28] There’s nothing wrong with that. The Lord tells us not to seek revenge ourselves. It is God’s right to dish out the revenge on the wicked. We are not supposed to do that, but very obviously, many places in the Bible the saints of God have asked for their enemies to be defeated or destroyed. [00:39:53] So that’s not unbiblical to say that. And it’s coming from a place of pain, as you [00:40:00] probably can understand. So here’s some of the stuff he’s going through. We’re in chapter 18, verse 18. [00:40:07] These are the kind of things he goes through. [00:40:09] They said, come let us make plots against Jeremiah for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise nor the word from the prophet. Come let us strike him with a tongue and let us not pay attention to any of his words. [00:40:26] So Jeremiah says, hear me oh Lord, and listen to the voice of my adversaries. Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them? To turn your wrath away from them. Therefore, deliver up their children to famine. Give them over to the power of the sword. [00:40:50] Let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be struck down by the sword in battle [00:41:00] and on it goes. [00:41:01] For they have dug a pit to take me and laid snares from my feet. Yet you are Lord know all they’re plotting to kill me. Forgive not their inequity, nor plot their sin from your sight. [00:41:17] Let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger. So [00:41:22] that’s funny. He talks first about, remember how I stood before you to speak good for them. And then he goes, [00:41:29] And then he started talking about their punishment. But they do put him in a pit. [00:41:34] And some commentaries say that the pit, they didn’t just dig a pit for him, it was a pit for multiple uses. So they would put dead animals down in a pit. They would use it as a toilet, squat into the pit. They would put dead bodies down there. It was probably bugs and critters down there. [00:41:57] It wasn’t a pleasant place. Wanted to [00:42:00] talk a little bit about the Chaldeans and the Babylonians. What kind of people were they? [00:42:06] They were wicked because they would sacrifice their children to false gods. Some of the gods were named Molech, some of the pagan countries. But basically they would heat up this bronze statue and so it’s flaming hot and they would put their children into the arms of this statue to be burned alive. [00:42:33] And God’s very much pro child, loves children. Jesus loved children and always wanted to protect children. And these pagan countries would sacrifice their children to their false gods. And so that is one of the things that would anger the Lord. You don’t do this to these precious [00:43:00] children. So this is in chapter 19, and I started in [00:43:04] verse four because the people have forsaken me and have profane this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom they nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocence children. And have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to bail, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind. [00:43:34] Therefore, behold, days are coming declares the Lord. When this place shall no more be called the valley of the Son of Hinom. But in the valley of slaughter, I will cause their people to follow by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beast of the earth. [00:43:59] I will [00:44:00] make this city a horror, a thing to be his at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all of its wounds. And there’s a whole lot more that goes with that. That is why God forbid the Israelites to not marry into pagan pagan nations people that did not serve the God of Israel because of that reason. [00:44:27] Any children they would have, they would be sacrificed to these gods. And when you marry into a family, they influenced you of course. So you would be worshiping their gods, not them worshiping your God. And so God is gonna pass out some judgment for that. All right, so we’re in chapter 20 where Jeremiah is persecuted by Pashure. [00:44:54] Asher beat Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin gate of [00:45:00] the house of the Lord. So after he was released, Pashur’s thinking that’ll teach him to preach at us. And Jeremiah pretty much says, that’s not gonna stop me. I’m gonna still warn you of the pending judgment that is coming. [00:45:17] The countries are gonna come and take your families and take them away into slavery. Destroy your homes, your livestock, the temple, everything is going to be taken from you, but you need to turn from your wicked ways and turn to the Lord. And they don’t, of course not. [00:45:39] Now, this is very hard on Jeremiah. [00:45:42] Starting to really starting to have some mental health days. He need some mental health day. I didn’t even know what that meant, or even that existed until recently, that people would take the day off for a mental health break. [00:45:55] I just kept going. I didn’t even know that was an option for me to stop. [00:46:00] But I’m reading in chapter 20, verse 17. He’s like very depressed here having a bad day. [00:46:07] He did not kill me in the womb, so my mother would have been my grave and her womb forever. Great. Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow and spend my days in shame? You ever have a day like that? Why was I even born? But I’m just gonna suffer my entire life? So he’s definitely questioning, having a really bad day. [00:46:34] He was telling Pashur that you’re a false prophet back in verse six of chapter 20. And then he’s saying that, Lord, you are stronger than I. And you have prevailed. I have become a laughing stock all the day. Everyone mocks me for whenever I speak out. I cry out. Violence and destruction for the word of the [00:47:00] Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all the day long. [00:47:04] So he talks [00:47:05] quite a bit there before saying that we wish he was never born. [00:47:10] I don’t blame him. Do you? I don’t blame him. And it just gets worse. It doesn’t get any easier here. [00:47:18] So chapter 21 Jerusalem will fall to Babylon. He’s saying it’s definitely going to happen. Okay, here’s the verse I was talking about. The shepherds of Jerusalem. Don’t care for the sheep. Listen, chapter 23. And I think about the pastors that we hear right now being caught. Abusing children and covering up abuse in churches. [00:47:42] The people in their church that have, [00:47:45] have abused children, they cover it up. They don’t call the police, they blame the child. This is probably a good description of them because they’re shepherds and they’re not protecting of flock. They’re [00:48:00] protecting the evil people. So verse one, woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, declares the Lord, therefore, thus says the Lord, that God of Israel concerning the shepherds who care for my people, you have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. [00:48:23] Behold, I will attend to you or your evil deeds declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold. They shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed. [00:48:48] Neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. [00:48:52] The days are coming declares the Lord. I will raise up for David a righteous branch in shall rain king and deal wisely. So [00:49:00] go back to this chapter 23 and just think if you were abused or suffered at the hands of a pastor or a church spiritual abuse, God is gonna judge that church. So hold on to this chapter. [00:49:15] Hold on to these promises. God is going to punish that shepherd in some way, maybe not in front of us. Maybe you don’t think you’re gonna get justice, but God is going to get justice against the shepherds who don’t take care of his sheep. [00:49:33] Let’s see. Let’s go on to [00:49:36] So chapter 23, verse 23. I really like this verse. [00:49:42] He’s talking to the people, Jerusalem, am I a god at hand? Declares the Lord and not a God far away. Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? Do I not build heaven and earth? [00:49:58] Let him, who has [00:50:00] my word speak my word faithfully. Let’s try that again. Verse 28. [00:50:04] I’m against those who prophesy lying dreams, no, who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not proffit this people at all, declares the Lord. [00:50:21] What has the Lord answered? Or what has the Lord spoken but the burden of the Lord, you shall mention no more for the burden is every man’s own word and you pervert the words of the living God. The Lord of hosts our God. Again, God isn’t gonna put up with lying pastors, lying preachers, lying prophets, [00:50:45] leaders who are not saying what God has spoken. They’re just making stuff up for themselves. Oh, let’s see. So chapter 25 is you are going to be in captivity for 70 [00:51:00] years. That’s pretty much what that is about. [00:51:03] Chapter 26. Jeremiah is threatened with death. [00:51:08] I’m just gonna read a couple verses here in verse eight. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets, and all the people laid hold of him saying, you shall die. [00:51:24] Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying this house shall be like Shiloh and this city shall be desolate without inhabitant? And the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, this man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears. [00:51:44] So Jeremiah pretty much answers that do what you want with me. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon the city and it’s inhabitants. For in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak [00:52:00] all of these words in your ears. So they talk amongst themselves, these leaders, and they figured this out, that, and this was Micah Mache prophesy. [00:52:13] In the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and said to the people of Judah, didn’t Hezekiah, king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and treat the favor of the Lord and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves. So at least this guy Micah knows his history that, okay, you were gonna put Hezekiah death [00:52:44] for preaching the truth. And they decided not to. And then the Lord’s judgment was taken away. He’s telling his compadres, Hey, maybe we should listen to this guy. I don’t want the [00:53:00] judgment of God on us. Maybe we should let him go. So he escapes certain death here. He let him go for now. [00:53:09] Let’s see. Chapter 29 is, I’ll summarize that as the Lord tells Jeremiah to tell the people get married, have lots of children, and marry off your kids. [00:53:22] And that’s [00:53:23] because communities high in number are stronger. And he also tells them, Do not let your prophets and diviners who among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams that they dream because it is a lie that they’re prophets saying to you in my name. [00:53:42] I did not send them, [00:53:43] but the Lord gifts them a promise. When the 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. And everybody knows this verse, right? Jeremiah 29 [00:54:00] verse 11, For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil. [00:54:08] To give you a future and a hope, then you will call upon me and come and pray to me. And I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you for all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. [00:54:37] So the verse is much longer than people realize. And yes, the context here. Is the Lord is talking to The Israelites who are in bondage. They’re gonna be taken into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. Don’t be afraid because I will fulfill my [00:55:00] promise and rescue you from that captivity in 70 years. And you’re [00:55:05] Thinking why are you waiting 70 years? It doesn’t really say why, but I’m willing to bet that it’s because they need a hard lesson. They need to be humbled. They need to go down to the bottom where there’s nowhere else to look but up. If you’re gonna worship false gods and you’re gonna marry pagan women or pagan men then you’re gonna be taken by those countries. [00:55:33] You’re going to be their slaves. And it’s probably gonna be 70 years until you wake up and you realize that you should have repented, you should have reached out to the Lord. Cried out to the Lord. So that is my guess. Is that they’re hardheaded. Hardhearted. [00:55:53] And before we get so harsh on the Israelites, we’re hardhearted too. We have [00:56:00] our stubbornness. Some more than others. I guess. [00:56:03] We all have some repenting to do. We all need to examine our hearts and see, hey, are we worshiping false gods? And you’re thinking I’m not like some of those Catholics who kiss statues and pray to the picture of Mary. But there are other idols besides statues. [00:56:22] You have your job, you have the internet. How many people are addicted to social media? How many people are worshiping money or they’re climbing their way up the corporate ladder and stepping on everybody’s faces on the. How many are neglecting their family so they can earn more money or be more successful. [00:56:46] Are you obsessed with cars? Are you obsessed with anything else that gets in the way of God being first in your life and then your family second? So we all have to examine our [00:57:00] hearts. So this is a great reminder. [00:57:02] So chapter 30, it’s promising restoration. [00:57:07] Chapter 31. I will be the god of all the clans of Israel and they shall be my people. Oh, here’s my promises. You shall adorn yourself with tambourines and go forth in the dance of the merry makers. All you Baptists out there that are against dancing and percussion instruments. There you go. This is biblical right here. [00:57:34] And God says, I’m a father to Israel. I will lead them back with weeping. They shall come and with please for mercies, I will lead them back. So that’s verse nine. So chapter 31, verse 31. It talks about the new covenant. I’m gonna make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. [00:57:55] Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day that I [00:58:00] took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, I will put the law within them and I will write it on their hearts. [00:58:17] Now will be their God and they shall be my people. No longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each brother shall say, know the Lord. I will forgive their inequity and I will remember their sin no more. So that’s a very specific promise. [00:58:37] They’re talking about Jesus, Jesus is gonna be the new covenant and he is gonna come from the line of David, as we have talked about in previous episodes. Let’s looking ahead, it’s giving them hope, trying again to encourage them to come back to him. Let’s see. Chapter 32, [00:58:57] verse 16. [00:58:59] Jeremiah [00:59:00] is praying for understanding. He does not understand why God is punishing his people. So again, he is flattering the Lord with words, oh Lord, you’re so great. It’s you that made the heavens in the earth and your great power. Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of father’s to their children. [00:59:26] So Jeremiah’s asking, why are you doing this? I don’t understand. They are your children. So God just tells Jeremiah yeah, behold, I am the Lord. The God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? But I’m giving this city to the hands of Chaldeans, into the hands of King of Babylon, and he shall capture it. [00:59:49] And this is why. Verse 30 for the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. They have done nothing but provoke me to anger by [01:00:00] the works of their hands. The city has aroused anger and wrath from the date was built to this day and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. [01:00:09] They have set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name to defile it. To offer up their sons and daughters up to Molech, false God. Though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause juda sin. So yeah, Jeremiah’s asking why and God’s given him an answer, might not be the answer he wanted. [01:00:36] Okay, so I’m just gonna summarize this chapter 34. Pretty much Jeremiah says Zedekiah will die in Babylon, captured and exiled. And in verse 14 God tells them to set their slaves free. These were indentured servants. People went into slavery for debt. It wasn’t [01:01:00] like the transatlantic slave trade. It was if you were in debt. Like if you had a credit card in this day and age and you didn’t pay that credit card bill, you would have to go and work to pay off the debt, or your children work off your debt for you if you could not. [01:01:19] So this is what kind of slavery this is. And usually there’s the year of Jubilee where God says after seven years you have to let those slaves go free, and you’re also giving a rest to the land. You’re not gonna plant anything on the seventh year, let the land rest, and then the following year you can replant. [01:01:43] So what these people did were they set them free and then after the Jubilee celebration, then they enslaved them back again. They took him as slaves again. So this makes the lord angry. This is [01:02:00] not what he what he wanted. [01:02:03] You must free him from your service. [01:02:05] You made a covenant before me in the house that was called by my name, but then you turned around and profane my name. When each of you took back his male and female slaves whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves, you have not obeyed me, proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother and to his neighbor. [01:02:27] Behold, I proclaim to you liberty, to the sword, to pestilence and to famine, declares the Lord. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. So contrary to popular belief, God is not pro-slavery, he’s not. Slavery is a institution of man. It is not of God and wants his people to be free. Now, does he allow people to go [01:03:00] into slavery because of their debt? [01:03:03] Yes. He allows it to happen. Does he like it? No. And no one should be a slave forever, even if you were in debt up to your eyeballs. That’s what this is about. Let’s see, chapter 36. I’m skipping 35 because of time. [01:03:24] But the Lord commanded Jeremiah to write all this stuff down that he’s been saying about the coming judgment on a scroll. He actually gets Baruch to help him write it down on a scroll and hand it over to the king Jehoiakim. And you know what Jehoiakim did? He burned it. [01:03:46] And so God tells them to write another one. And actually Baruch writes and then he is told to proclaim it to the temple because apparently Jeremiah is not allowed to go in [01:04:00] the temple anymore. [01:04:01] So the officials asked, where did you get these words to write on the scroll? And Baruch says, the Lord told them to write this down on the scroll. And the officials said to Baruch, go and hide you and Jeremiah and let no one know where you are. So that’s in 36 verse 18. So they tell them to hide. And the king burns that one too. [01:04:29] The king does not repent. King does not care. And so they are taken off looking for Jeremiah and Baruch, and they’re hiding for their lives. [01:04:42] So these leaders did not fear God at all. [01:04:46] So the Lord protected Baruch and Jeremiah. They did not find them. Again, this is just, as you can see, there’s lots of repetition here. [01:04:58] So in chapter [01:05:00] 37 now, Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people for he had not been put in prison. The Army of Pharoah had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem. [01:05:17] I’m skipping down to verse 13. When he was at the Benjamin Gate, that’s Jeremiah, a centurion [01:05:25] Seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah and they beat him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan, the secretary, or it had been made a prison. [01:05:38] So then the officials are talking to the king and conspiring against him. In chapter 38 the officials said to the king in verse four, let this man be put to death for his weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in the city and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them, for this man is not seeking the welfare of this [01:06:00] people, but their harm. [01:06:02] And King Zedekiah said, behold, he is in your hands for the king can do nothing against you. So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Melchia, the king’s son, which was in the court of the Guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud. The Jeremiah sank in the mud. [01:06:28] we talked about this already, about him having mud up to his armpits and probably left him down there to starve because there was no bread in the city to give him anything to eat. He’s rescued by this wonderful Ethiopian eunich who was in the King’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. [01:06:51] So then they drew Jeremiah out with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard. [01:06:59] [01:07:00] So does that stop Jeremiah from speaking the truth? Nope. Hey, your your family’s gonna be hauled off. [01:07:06] And we mentioned of all of Jerusalem in chapter 39 today is here. All the prophesies that Jeremiah said happens. [01:07:19] But the Lord delivers Jeremiah and surprisingly the king of Babylon. Look after him. Now this is 39 verse 11. Take him and look after him and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you. [01:07:34] Chapter 41, verse four. On the day after the murder of Geniah, before anyone knew of it, 80 men arrived from Shaham and Shiloh and Samaria with their beard shaved and their clothes torn and their bodies gashed, bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. [01:07:54] Verse seven, when they came to the city, the men slaughtered them and cast them into a cistern, [01:08:00] but there were 10 men among them. He said to Ishma, do not put us to death for, we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields. So he refrained and not put them to death with their companions. [01:08:15] Yeah, and cistern was great for throwing dead bodies into [01:08:20] lots of horrible things going on. So we’re coming to the end here because a lot more repetition. Jeremiah is taken to Egypt. [01:08:30] And so the rest of these chapters are about judgment of specific cities and specific countries. [01:08:39] Jeremiah and Baruch have a sit down chat together, and Jeremiah’s still pretty depressed here. There’s a chapter 45 [01:08:54] this says the Lord, the God of Israel to you. Oh, Baruch, you [01:09:00] said, wo is me. For the Lord has added sorrow to my. I am weary with my groaning and I find no rest [01:09:08] Because the Lord is bringing disaster upon all flesh. So chapter 46 is the Judgment on Egypt. Chapter 47 is the judgment on the Philistines. You remember the Philistines, you have Sampson who destroyed the Philistines. He married one of the Philistine women. And David an Goliath. Goliath was a Philistine. So that may be familiar to you. [01:09:41] Chapter 48 is the Judgment on Moab. Moab was always an enemy of Judah. [01:09:48] And Chapter 49 is a judgment on Amon the Ammonites. They had their god of Molech and they’re the ones that were sacrificing their [01:10:00] children throwing them in the fire. Judgment on Damascus. Damascus is an enemy of the Jews. Judgment on Kadar and Hazor. Chapter 50 is the Judgment on Babylon. Eventually Babylon is going to be judged. Yes, God did allow Babylon to take the Jews into captivity. But eventually after the 70 years of captivity, Babylon is going to be actually taken over by Persians. [01:10:42] So if you remember Xerxes in the Book of Esther where we were talking about that, he was trying to capture Babylon. The Meads were allies with Persia. And so they conquered [01:11:00] Babylon in 5 39 BC. So all fun facts, [01:11:04] Babylonians are wicked. Chapter 52, this is the last chapter and it does summarize the fall of Jerusalem. Talks about the temple being burned [01:11:16] and it has a number of how many people carried away as captives. I’m going skip all of that and go to the very bottom where it says all the persons were 4,600. [01:11:31] kinda weird. That is how the book ends. [01:11:33] We have a bit of history, a summary of the book. I’m hoping it’s a little more understandable for you. You got a little bit of a picture of how the books of the Bible are connected together. The characters of the Bible are connected a little bit. And I left out a lot of stuff. Trust me. [01:11:51] You might have thought, when is she gonna stop talking? [01:11:54] It’s hard to skip a lot of this stuff, but I skipped the things that were repetitive. [01:12:00] Gave you a summary, gave you some things to think about, gave you a little bit of character of Jeremiah and what’s the takeaway from Jeremiah’s life? He didn’t have Prozac or mental health services to get him through this. [01:12:16] He had God and he had Baruch. They seemed to have a great relationship. [01:12:22] Baruch. Being persecuted as well, along with Jeremiah. The takeaways is that it’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be angry. It’s okay. to not understand what God is doing in your life, why you’re suffering. It’s okay to cry out to him and ask him questions. You might not get the answer you want all the time, but the Lord is going to be with you and protect you, give you comfort. [01:12:53] God is going to use you to do great and mighty things. Jeremiah’s life was very [01:13:00] hard, but that was his calling to warn the people of the coming judgment. Did they listen? No, but you can’t say that he didn’t try and you can’t blame God or Jeremiah for the Israelites not listening or the Israeli like to be dragged away into slavery. [01:13:23] You can’t blame God for that. They didn’t listen. But Jeremiah still loved the Lord and still praised him even in the midst of his suffering. And I did skip a lot of stuff that talked about in his love for God and his praise sessions. [01:13:40] He still knew and loved God and loved his people. And that’s why he warned them of the danger coming. Just like we would warn our family and friends of a tornado or a, an earthquake or fire, we would warn people. We want our loved ones to [01:14:00] be safe and not to suffer. Not all of the Bible stories have good endings. [01:14:07] I would say a good ending would be after 70 years of captivity, then they do get to go back to Israel, the Promised Land. In Daniel’s day. That is what happened. Daniel did not go back to The holy land. He must have been too old to make the journey, but his people did get to see restoration. [01:14:29] that’s what I would say is a happy ending. So dig into Jeremiah, explore around a little bit now that I gave you a summary. And if you have any questions, I’ll be glad to help you. Or go get a commentary. There’s lots of online resources for you. Or if you have a trusted Bible teacher or trusted pastor ask them these questions that you have. [01:14:54] If you have any questions about any of what I talked about or some other things that [01:15:00] you find in the Bible don’t be afraid. Cause it’s not always easy to read this stuff. But let’s struggle together. Let’s find the answers together. We don’t wanna throw out the baby with the bath water. We don’t wanna throw out God from our lives because we don’t understand or because we’re going through pain and suffering. [01:15:22] Let’s struggle together to find the answers. God is with you. God does want to comfort and support you and heal you. Just give him a chance. Now I’m going to leave you with those words. And so you guys have a wonderful week and we’ll see you next time. [01:15:46] God bless you.