Lessons From Jeremiah – Part 1 – Problems In Our Genealogy; Are We To Blame? Series

LESSONS FROM JEREMIAH – PART 1 – PROBLEMS IN OUR GENEALOGY; ARE WE TO BLAME?

PART 1 – Jeremiah 1:1-3

CHAPTER 1

{{Jeremiah 1:1-3 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.”}}

[A]. FROM THE HIGHS TO THE LOWS

Jeremiah begins his prophecy with his brief personal details. He was a priest living with a group of priests in Anathoth and he lived through the reigns of the last three kings of Judah, and the messages from the Lord kept coming during these times. Personally, I am impressed with Jeremiah so much and in some ways can relate to him in suffering. I admire his faithfulness, his devotion to the Lord and his desire for a truly honest ministry.

Josiah was the best king apart from David of all the kings of Judah but his sons, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, were evil kings and as a result of them, caused much death and misery to Judah in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Of all the kings of Judah whose biographies we read in Kings and Chronicles, Josiah is the only one where not the slightest blemish is recorded. The record of the war with Pharaoh Neco is a bit vague as to motive. He was a man who walked with God in the same way as David did.

I would like to think there was a good communication between Josiah and Jeremiah but scripture mentions nothing apart from one mention in the book of the Chronicles where Jeremiah made a lament for Josiah when he died. {{2Chronicles 35:25-26 “Then JEREMIAH CHANTED A LAMENT FOR JOSIAH and all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and they made them an ordinance in Israel. Behold, they are also written in the Lamentations. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his DEEDS OF DEVOTION as written in the law of the LORD.”}}. There is no reference in 2 Kings. Jeremiah saw evil under Josiah’s sons and suffered their rejection and persecution. At one time, as detailed later on in the book, in chapter 36, Jehoiakim treated the word of God with contempt, consigning it piece by piece to the fire.

The succession of the latter kings of Judah is a bit more complex than the opening verses in Jeremiah suggest, if you did not know the history. When Josiah was killed in battle against Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, the people of Judah took Josiah’s son, Joahaz, and made him king. Joahaz was 23 years old when this happened, and because Josiah was 39 years old when he died, this means he became Joahaz’s father about the age of 16. Neco was unhappy about that appointment, and deposed Joahaz after three months and appointed his brother, Eliakim as the king of Judah and changed his name to Jehoiakim, the fellow mentioned by Jeremiah.

{{2Chronicles 36:2-4 “Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Then the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Joahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt.”}}

[B]. ARE EVIL SONS THE FAULT OF THE FATHER?

Jehoiakim was 25 when he became king, so it seems Josiah became his father at 14 to 16. Seems strange to us in our day, but maybe the custom was to have offspring quickly in case some died and you needed the succession.

Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years until Nebuchadnezzar came and bound him in bronze chains, and took him to Babylon. Then Jehoiachin, his son, was made king in his place. He would have been Josiah’s grandson. Jehoiachin was 8 years old when he became king, but reigned only for 3 months and 10 days. Now the most interesting thing is, that it is said of Jehoiachin that he did evil in the sight of the Lord. Remembering that this person was only 8 years old, God still classifies him among the wicked kings of Israel and Judah. People talk about the age of accountability and the innocence of children. I am not going to explore that but we clearly have an 8 year old who did evil before God and will be responsible for that.