Call to Commitment

 

Chapter 23, Part II

 

 

  Self-appointed prophets walking in their hearts’ deceit

21.  "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 

 22.  But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings. 

 23.   "Am I a God near at hand," says the LORD, "And not a God afar off? 

 24.    Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?" says the LORD; "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD. 

 25.  "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!' 

 26.    How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 

 27.    who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. 

 28.  "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?" says the LORD. 

 29.    "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 

 30.  "Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who steal My words every one from his neighbor. 

 31.  Behold, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their tongues and say, 'He says.' 

 32.  Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," says the LORD, "and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all," says the LORD.

 Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John to be fishers of men (Mk.1:16-20). He spent an entire night in prayer before choosing the twelve as apostles (Lk.6:12-13). Later, he appointed 70 others, whom He sent out two by two (Lk.10:1). Paul often tells that he was called to be an apostle. Every prophet was called of God and kings and priests were anointed. At the beginning of this book, we read of Jeremiah’s calling: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jer.1:5). Divine calling is essential to genuine ministry.

 

Chapter 23, Part I

  A King of Righteousness is coming

1.      "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" says the LORD. 

2.      Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: "You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings," says the LORD. 

       3.      "But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 

4.      I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking," says the LORD. 

 5.      "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 

 6.      In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

 7.      "Therefore, behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that they shall no longer say, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' 

 8.      but, 'As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.' And they shall dwell in their own land." 

The Lord has always seen Israel as a flock of sheep in need of care and those, who are charged with their wellbeing, are called shepherds. We have the same terminology in the New Testament and they are also called elders and overseers (which is the meaning of bishops) in the church and Peter, himself an elder, urges them to fulfill their office: “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lord over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 P.5:2-3). 

  

Chapter 22

Shallum or Jehoahaz

      1.   Thus says the LORD: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word, 

      2.     and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates!    

      3.   Thus says the LORD: “Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. 

 4.      For if you indeed do this thing, then shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David. 

 5.       But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself,” says the LORD, “that this house shall become a desolation.” ‘ “ 

 6.        For thus says the LORD to the house of the king of Judah: “You are Gilead to Me, The head of Lebanon; Yet I surely will make you a wilderness, Cities which are not inhabited. 

 7.      I will prepare destroyers against you, Everyone with his weapons; They shall cut down your choice cedars And cast them into the fire. 

 8.      And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, ‘Why has the LORD done so to this great city?’ 

 9.      Then they will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’ “ 

 10.  Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him; Weep bitterly for him who goes away, For he shall return no more, Nor see his native country. 

 11.  For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went from this place: “He shall not return here anymore, 

 12.  but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more. 

  

Chapter 21

 

God is Jerusalem’s enemy

      1.      The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying, 

      2.      "Please inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that the king may go away from us." 

      3.      Then Jeremiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 

 4.      'Thus says the LORD God of Israel: "Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and I will assemble them in the midst of this city. 

 5.      I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath. 

 6.      I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. 

 7.   And afterward," says the LORD, "I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy." ' 

 Chapter 21 is a comparatively short lesson in our study of Jeremiah. I remind you of what we saw from the very beginning of this book; that is, that Jeremiah did not organize his book chronologically. What we find in this chapter, relates to what is in chapter 37 and 38. There these same two priests, Pashhur, the son of Melchiah (38:1) and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah (37:3), are mentioned. Jeremiah’s message is identical here in verse 9, with chapter 38:2.

 In the two cases of these priests, we do not have the biblical introduction of father and son, as is common throughout the Scriptures. The priests are presented by their orders. In the last chapter, Pashhur was called the son of Immer, meaning that he belonged, by ancestry, to the 16^th order of priests, that of Immer. Immediately, we recognize that this is a different Pashhur, who belonged to the fifth order of Melchiah. Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, belonged to the twenty-fourth order (see the orders in 1 Chr.24:7-18). 

 

Jeremiah 20

 Pashhur’s persecution and fate

      1.     Now Pashhur the son of Immer, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. 

      2.    Then Pashhur struck 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. 

 3.      And it happened on the next day that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib. 

 4.      For thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the sword. 

 5.      Moreover I will deliver all the wealth of this city, all its produce, and all its precious things; all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them, seize them, and carry them to Babylon. 

 6.      And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. You shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die, and be buried there, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies.' " 

 Because the numbers of the priesthood grew, so that it was impossible that they could all serve in the temple at once, David divided them into 24 orders. We can study the orders in 1 Chronicles 24. Each priest descended from Aaron. The first two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, were killed for kindling false fire before the Lord, and so only Eleazar and Ithamar were left. Sixteen orders descended from Eleazar and eight from Ithamar. Each order served in turn for a week in the temple and these orders continued in the New Testament. Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist was of the eighth order… that of Abijah (Lk.1:5; 1 Chr.24:10).

 The priest, Pashhur, in this chapter, descended from Immer of the sixteenth division. We should also understand his rank, which was among the top in the priesthood. The Hebrew word, nagid, was the highest of the two and indicated the high priest, translated ruler in 1 Chronicles 9:11, as well as Nehemiah 11:11.  The second belonged to Pashhur, that of the pachid (Hebrew), or deputy to the high priest, translated chief governor in NKJV.

 Pashur was informed of the prophecy given by Jeremiah in chapter 19. NKJV says that Pashur struck Jeremiah (3), but the Hebrew better indicates that he had him beaten, and put him in stocks, imprisoned at the Benjamin Gate, near the temple. Even though on the following day he released him, Jeremiah prophesied the consequences of this act: The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib, meaning terror on every side (3). Men may follow him, because of his high office, but God’s purpose for him would prevail. His unjustified act against God’s minister changed his destiny into one of fearful danger. He had brought it on himself, and it would extend to his followers. Enemy swords would kill them and Pashur would witness it, when God turned Israel over to Babylon (4).