Call to Commitment

Chapter 36

A spoken record is not enough

        1.      Now it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: 

 2.      "Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day. 

 3.      It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." 

 4.      Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the LORD which He had spoken to him. 

 I have no difficulty at all believing that Jeremiah was still an adolescent, when God called him into a prophetic ministry. The commentators, to which I often refer, see him as being very young, Adam Clarke calculating that he was only 14. The first proof of his age is in the Hebrew word that he used, when he protested his calling, saying “I am a youth” (1:6). The word is nahar, and is best translated a boy.

 Some commentators think that Jeremiah was exaggerating his youthfulness, but I find that that kind of assumption will breed error. You want to be careful of commentators, who infer that the writers of Scripture were exaggerators or even liars. It is a proof of the evil that is entwined with unbelief. Their conclusions mock Peter’s anointed statement: “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2P.1:21). The book of Daniel clearly states that Daniel and his three companions were taken to Babylon very shortly before the time that Jeremiah 35 and 36 were written. Some liberal theologians teach that Daniel lived at a much later date. By then, most of his prophecies would be history and not future.

 As to Jeremiah’s youth, it is not surprising, when we consider that others were called by God at an early age. Samuel was a child, certainly not over twelve years of age, when God placed a very weighty message on him for Eli and his sons. David must have been an adolescent, as the youngest of eight sons, when he was anointed king. Joseph was 17 when he arrived in Egypt as a slave, and immediately began to manifest the hand of God upon him. Daniel and his three companions, already mentioned, were probably adolescents, when they were taken to Babylon. Isaiah, Hosea and Zechariah were also called at a young age. 

Chapter 35

 

An unbroken vow

      1.      The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 

     2.      "Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink." 

 3.      Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, 

 4.      and I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door. 

 5.      Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, "Drink wine." 

 6.      But they said, "We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, 'You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever. 

 7.      You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners.' 

 8.      Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, 

 9.      nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; nor do we have vineyard, field, or seed. 

 10.  But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. 

 11.  But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, 'Come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians.' So we dwell at Jerusalem." 

 Chapter 35 was written before the previous three, which were presented in the time of Zedekiah’s reign. This chapter takes us back to the prophecies during the reign of Jehoiakim. Notice the entire scope of Jeremias prophecies in chapter 1:2 and 3, from the time of Josiah through the reign of Jehoahaz, Josiah’s son. The Pharaoh of Egypt dethroned him after reigning only three months, and took him to Egypt, where he died. Pharaoh made Eliakim, another son of Josiah, king, and changed his name to Jehoiakim, who reigned for 11 years. Jeremiah’s ministry continued through the short reign, only three months, of Jehoiachin, Jehoiakim’s son, and on through the 11-year reign of Jehoiachin’s uncle and another son of Josiah, Mattaniah, better known as Zedekiah.

 It is King Jehoiakim, who is reigning at the time that this chapter is written (1). This book not only contains prophecy and history, but teaching from the Lord Himself, sometimes in forms of parables. This is a little different, God now uses an example of followers of a man called Rechab to give another lesson to the people of Jerusalem from Jeremiah.

 It is a significant time in Judah, because Chaldean raiders, as well as Syrians, are invading the land. At this time, the Lord instructs Jeremiah to visit the house of the Rechabites and bring them into a chamber of the temple (2).  Jeremiah speaks to their leader Jaazaniah, his brothers and sons, the chief people in the group, as well as the entire clan of Rachabites (3). He takes them to the temple, into the chamber of sons of Hanan, descendants of a man of God, named Igdaliah. Their chamber was next to the chamber, where the princes met, above the chamber of the high-ranking guard of one of the doors of the temple, Maaseiah (4).