Read Jeremiah 26, then 25, then 35 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Jer 26:1-6 {p} YHVH sent Jeremiah to prophesy His word in the court of the Temple, so that He may relent of calamity
Jer 26:7-10 {s} Priests, prophets, people seized Jeremiah to put him to death/ princes of Judah sat to render judgment
Jer 26:11-15 {s} The priests’ accusation + Jeremiah’s defense, before the princes of Judah
Jer 26:16-24 {p} The people + elders spoke in defense of Jeremiah/ his acquittal
Jer 25:1-7 {p} The prophets sent from YHVH have warned you to repent, but you have not listened
Jer 25:8-14 {p} Because you have not listened, Babylon will come against you and make you a desolation 70 years
Jer 25:15-27a {p} The wine cup of YHVH’s fury which Judah, the nations, and Babylon shall drink
Jer 25:27b-31 {s} Drink + be drunk, O nations, fall + rise no more/ He will give those who are wicked to the sword
Jer 25:32-38 {p} Disaster to the farthest parts of the earth because of YHVH’s fierce anger
Jer 35:1-11 {p} YHVH: Set wine before the Rechabites/ they would not drink, but obeyed their father’s command
Jer 35:12-19 {p} The Rechabites obey their father, but Judah + Jerusalem has not obeyed My word
Jer 26 takes place in the first year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, whom Pharaoh Necho put on the throne of Judah. Jer 25 takes place in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, in the year when Nebuchadnezzar ascended the throne of Babylon.
Jer 26:7-24 {s+s+p} chiastic structure
When nations and people choose to ignore the LORD’s voice and discard His commandments, it hurts them. It does not hurt the LORD, other than the grief it brings to His heart (Gen 6:5-6). But what can we do or do not to diminish Him? He is on His throne, and He reigns, regardless of what nations and people do or do not. Our disobedience or wickedness hurts only ourselves. When we disobey Him, we are seeking evil, curses, decrease, unhappiness, and poverty for ourselves and our neighbors.
As Creator and Owner, the LORD remedies this situation by seeking to restore righteousness to nations and people. Where righteousness increases, wickedness decreases, until the whole lump is leavened and wickedness and death is swallowed up in righteousness and life. He first seeks to restore righteousness by instruction and repentance. That is the easiest way. (See the ancient Hebrew pictograph meaning of shuv, to turn.) The language in Jeremiah’s prophecy today – that for 23 years he has been sent by the Lord to plead with them to repent, rising early and speaking – echoes the same language in 2 Chr 36 that we read yesterday (2 Chr 36:15). But if nations and people will not heed instruction or repent of wickedness, then He will destroy wickedness and sin wherever it is found.
A noise will come to the ends of the earth—
For the LORD has a controversy with the nations;
He will plead His case with all flesh.
He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the LORD.” Jer 25:31
It is His right as Creator and Owner to dispense with His creation as seems best to Him. And it is best for His creation that wickedness is destroyed, because wickedness, we saw, hurts. Evil victimizes. Everyone who has ears to hear: if you do not desire destruction or the sword to come upon you, the LORD is able to preserve one life even in the midst of the destruction of a nation.
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